A conversation with Akash Prasad, founder of To Be Alive Advisory, on success, anxiety, belonging, inherited patterns—and getting off the achievement hamster wheel.
There is a very specific kind of existential crisis reserved for successful people.
You did the things.
You got the degree. You got the job. You collected the impressive company names. You became the person your younger self was supposedly working so hard to become.
And then one random Tuesday your brain goes:
Cool. So why don’t I feel better?
That is where my conversation with Akash Prasad, founder of To Be Alive Advisory, gets interesting.
Akash has the résumé that normally gets turned into a LinkedIn victory lap: UCLA MBA, experience at companies including Verizon and Amazon, and a career built around accomplishment.
But this episode isn’t really about accomplishment.
It’s about what happens when accomplishment stops being enough.
Welcome to the Success Hamster Wheel
For ambitious people, achievement can become remarkably efficient.
Goal.
Work.
Achieve goal.
Experience approximately seven minutes of satisfaction.
Immediately invent a harder goal.
Repeat until retirement or spontaneous combustion.
The dangerous part is that from the outside, this can look fantastic.
Promotions. Degrees. Money. Titles. Recognition.
Meanwhile, internally, you may still be operating from fears, expectations and emotional patterns that were installed decades ago.
Akash talks about learning to recognize those patterns instead of automatically obeying them.
Because eventually you have to ask:
Am I building the life I actually want—or am I just becoming extremely good at completing assignments I inherited from somebody else?
That question is much scarier than another quarterly goal.
“This Ends With Me.”
One of the strongest ideas from our conversation was simple:
“This ends with me.”
Most people inherit more than eye color and questionable family recipes.
We inherit beliefs about money.
Success.
Relationships.
Worthiness.
What respectable people are supposed to do.
What failure supposedly says about us.
And sometimes we spend decades living according to emotional rules we never consciously chose.
The shift happens when you can finally see the pattern.
You don’t necessarily need to hate where it came from.
You just don’t have to keep forwarding it to the next chapter of your life.
Awareness gives you a choice.
And choice is where a different legacy begins.
Anxiety Might Not Mean “Stop”
Ambitious people are often waiting for the magical day when they finally feel completely confident.
Bad news:
That day appears to have been delayed indefinitely.
Akash offered a much more useful interpretation of fear:
“My fear and nervousness is just a sign that I’m stepping onto a bigger stage.”
That changes the equation.
Nervous doesn’t automatically mean wrong.
Uncomfortable doesn’t automatically mean unprepared.
Sometimes your body is simply realizing:
Oh. We’re doing something bigger now.
Entrepreneurs encounter this constantly.
Pitching the larger client.
Launching the company.
Leaving the safe job.
Walking into a room where you don’t know anyone.
Publishing the thing.
Charging more.
Being seen.
The goal isn’t necessarily to eliminate fear before acting.
Sometimes the goal is to stop treating fear like a stop sign.
The Belonging Problem
Then we got into something even bigger: belonging.
A lot of people spend enormous amounts of energy trying to earn it.
Get into the right school.
Join the right company.
Make enough money.
Find the right social group.
Collect enough external proof that you deserve your seat at the table.
But Akash described belonging differently:
“Belonging is something that becomes obvious when you feel at home with yourself.”
That one deserves a second read.
Because if your sense of belonging depends entirely on someone else admitting you into the room, you’re handing strangers an absurd amount of authority over your life.
The more interesting version of success may be becoming comfortable enough with yourself that you stop auditioning everywhere you go.
You can still want community.
You can still want achievement.
You can still want the big table.
You just don’t need the table to issue your certificate of existence.
What Does It Actually Mean to Be Alive?
This is why To Be Alive Advisory is such an appropriate name for Akash’s work.
There is a difference between functioning and feeling alive.
You can have an extremely functional life.
Calendar optimized.
Inbox cleared.
Career progressing.
Retirement account behaving responsibly.
LinkedIn looking gorgeous.
And still feel strangely disconnected from yourself.
Being alive involves something messier.
Curiosity.
Risk.
Connection.
Presence.
Meaning.
Choosing things because they matter to you rather than because they look impressive when converted into bullet points.
And maybe that’s one of the stranger challenges of ambition:
At first, success means proving you can climb.
Eventually, success may mean deciding whether the ladder is leaning against a wall you actually care about.
Legacy Isn’t Just What You Build
At Legacy Launchers, I obviously think about legacy a lot.
Usually people hear that word and imagine something enormous.
A company.
A book.
Money.
A building with someone’s surname engraved on it.
But this conversation reminded me that legacy is also the patterns that stop with you.
The expectations you question.
The courage you model.
The version of yourself you finally allow to exist.
Sometimes your legacy is what you build.
Sometimes your legacy is what you refuse to keep carrying.
And sometimes the most successful thing you can do is step off the hamster wheel long enough to ask:
Do I actually feel alive in the life I’m working this hard to create?
Because if the answer is no, congratulations.
You may have discovered your next project.
And for once, it might actually be yours.
Listen to the full conversation with Akash Prasad on the Legacy Launchers Podcast.
Legacy Launchers Podcast explores the people, decisions, failures, reinventions and occasionally ridiculous plot twists behind building something worth leaving behind.
Why I applied for the $10,000 Amber Grant—and what I’d actually do with the money.
I never thought I’d be applying for free money again after college scholarships.
Yet here I am: older, allegedly wiser, and once again explaining why someone should give me money because I have potential.
This time, I applied for the $10,000 Amber Grant for women entrepreneurs. Obviously, $10,000 would be useful. I have yet to meet a startup founder who sees $10,000 and says, “No thanks, we’re good.” But writing the application forced me to answer a much bigger question:
What exactly am I trying to build with Legacy Launcher Labs—and who am I trying to build it for?
At 18, I Refused to Use My Mother’s Story
When I was applying to college, my mother repeatedly told me I should write about growing up with a single mom who had cancer.
From a college-admissions standpoint, this was probably excellent advice.
From the standpoint of an extremely stubborn 18-year-old?
Absolutely not.
I remember thinking:
That’s her story. I want to be judged on mine.
I didn’t want hardship to become the most interesting thing about me. I wanted my ideas and accomplishments to speak for themselves.
I got into UC Berkeley anyway, so teenage me would like that entered into the official record.
But with age—and an inconvenient amount of life experience—I understand what my mother was trying to teach me.
Context matters.
Where you begin matters.
It just doesn’t have to determine where you finish.
Some People Inherit a Trust Fund. Some of Us Inherit Google.
The word legacy has always fascinated me.
In college admissions, a legacy student traditionally has a parent who attended the same school.
But legacy advantages exist everywhere.
Some people grow up around entrepreneurs, lawyers, investors and executives. Their parents understand money, negotiation, investing, real estate and the invisible rules governing opportunity.
Their family probably “has a person” for everything.
Attorney?
They have a person.
CPA?
Person.
Investor?
Person.
Random billionaire who owns twelve car dealerships and a minor-league baseball team?
Probably also a person.
Some people inherit a trust fund.
Some inherit an alumni network.
Some inherit parents who know exactly which doors to knock on.
Some of us inherit a strong work ethic, survival skills and a Google search bar.
And that’s a huge reason I started Legacy Launcher Labs.
I don’t think the circumstances someone is born into should determine the size of the life they’re allowed to build.
You may not inherit a legacy advantage.
You can still build one.
Eleven Kids. Ten Businesses. Five Days.
This stopped being philosophical for me during the summer of 2026.
I helped run a five-day entrepreneurship camp for 11 kids.
In five days, those kids launched 10 businesses.
They worked on products, prototypes, brands, websites, marketing and pitches. Their ideas ranged across cybersecurity, apparel, gaming, technology and physical products.
And I kept thinking:
We spend so much time asking children:
“What do you want to be when you grow up?”
Maybe we should start asking:
“What can you build this week?”
Instead of only consuming clothes:
Can you design them?
Instead of only playing games:
Can you build one?
Instead of scrolling past somebody else’s startup:
Can you launch yours?
That experience became a blueprint for what I want Legacy Launcher Labs to become: a place where children—and adults—learn to become creators instead of consumers.
And Then AI Helped Eliminate My Job
Because apparently the universe enjoys aggressive branding consistency.
AI began changing the industries around me.
Eventually, a job I held was eliminated in part because of AI.
So naturally…
I started building an AI company.
Apparently, spite is not an official business model.
Reinvention is.
That experience changed how I think about AI.
I’m not particularly interested in convincing every business owner to become an AI engineer.
I’m interested in what happens when someone who has spent twenty years becoming excellent at something suddenly hears:
“AI can do part of your job now.”
Because their experience didn’t suddenly become worthless.
Maybe it becomes a business.
A book.
A website.
A service.
A product.
A class.
A completely different career they hadn’t imagined yet.
That’s the opportunity I see.
So What Would I Actually Buy With the Amber Grant?
First:
A 3D printer.
Yes, really.
Not because I desperately need more objects occupying every available horizontal surface.
I want a kid to be able to walk into a program and say:
“I have an idea.”
And instead of an adult responding:
“That’s cute.”
I want to say:
“Great. Let’s make it.”
Design it.
Print it.
Break it.
Improve it.
Brand it.
Build a website.
Figure out who would buy it.
Sell version two.
That one machine could become somebody’s first prototype.
The funding would also support low-cost or sponsored workshops, AI and vibe-coding education, website building, entrepreneurship, marketing, storytelling, software, equipment, workshop space, educational materials and scholarships. I also want programs for adults whose jobs are being disrupted by AI.
Because grant money is useful.
But what I actually want to buy is access.
A 3D printer can become someone’s first prototype.
An AI workshop can become someone’s first website.
A storytelling class can become someone’s first book.
A vibe-coding session can become someone’s first company.
That’s a much better return on investment than another branded tote bag.
I Don’t Want to Build an Innovation Program for People Who Already Have Every Advantage
I want the kid whose parents don’t work in technology.
The immigrant who is still figuring out how everything works.
The woman rebuilding after a career change.
The person who just lost a job.
The person who has a brilliant idea but has never once described themselves as a founder.
Because AI has the potential to become an extraordinary equalizer.
For possibly the first time, one person sitting with a laptop can access capabilities that previously required designers, programmers, marketers, copywriters, researchers and entire departments.
But there’s a catch.
The people who already have money, education and strong networks are usually very good at adopting powerful new tools first.
So AI can narrow the opportunity gap.
Or it can make the gap even bigger.
I know which one I want to work toward.
A Legacy Doesn’t Have to Be Inherited
A legacy doesn’t have to be:
A house.
A trust fund.
A famous last name.
Or your parents’ university sweatshirt.
A legacy can be knowledge.
Confidence.
Relationships.
A skill nobody can take away from you.
The ability to look at an idea and think:
I know how to build that.
It could be a 12-year-old starting her first company.
It could be the first entrepreneur in a family.
The first person to write a book.
Build software.
Invent a product.
Own an asset.
Employ somebody else.
At 18, I didn’t want my mother’s story to define me.
Today, I understand something more complicated.
Where we come from matters.
What happened to us matters.
What we inherited—or didn’t inherit—matters.
But none of it has to be the final chapter.
I want Legacy Launcher Labs to give people something even better than legacy admission:
the tools to create a legacy worth inheriting.
Because one of the saddest places for a great idea isn’t a failed startup.
It’s a graveyard.
So while we’re here?
Build the thing.
And if the Amber Grant wants to buy the first 3D printer…
Every Comedian Wants a Legacy. Carissa Gomez Also Wants to Burn Out in a Ferrari.
There are people who want to leave behind a foundation.
There are people who want their name on a building.
There are people who want to be remembered for changing humanity.
And then there is Carissa Gomez, stand-up comedian and aerospace professional, who somehow managed to summarize the entire human condition with:
“Every comedian’s legacy is to leave a trail of themselves… We’re just naturally funny and we want people to see that part of us… and also… I wanna burn out in a Ferrari.”
Honestly?
Put that on Mount Rushmore.
Or at least embroider it on a very expensive jacket.
Because this may be the most realistic description of legacy I’ve heard.
Apparently Legacy Does Not Require Dying Quietly in a Library
When people hear the word legacy, suddenly everybody becomes Abraham Lincoln.
They start talking about:
“Impact.”
“Purpose.”
“Generational change.”
“Something bigger than myself.”
Beautiful.
Inspirational.
Very LinkedIn.
But there is another version of legacy:
I WAS HERE.
I made people laugh.
I made weird choices.
I told stories.
I embarrassed myself publicly.
Someone still remembers the joke.
And ideally, at some point, there was a Ferrari.
That counts too.
Carissa Has One of the Strangest Career Combinations Possible
Carissa works in aerospace.
And she does stand-up comedy.
Which means during the day she can apparently participate in conversations involving extremely expensive objects traveling through the sky.
And at night she can walk onto a stage and voluntarily let strangers judge her personality.
One profession requires extraordinary precision.
The other involves standing under a light and saying:
“So anyway, my childhood…”
This is range.
Most people have a left brain and a right brain.
Carissa apparently said:
Why choose? Give me rockets AND emotional damage.
🚀😂
Stand-Up Is Basically Creating Intellectual Property From Your Worst Decisions
This might be the greatest business model ever invented.
Normal person:
“That was one of the most humiliating moments of my life.”
Comedian:
“WRITE THAT DOWN.”
Normal person:
“I dated someone absolutely terrible.”
Comedian:
“Excellent. That’s seven minutes.”
Normal person:
“My family is complicated.”
Comedian:
“Netflix special.”
The beautiful thing about comedy is that nothing technically has to be wasted.
Bad date?
Content.
Awkward childhood?
Content.
Mental health crisis?
Give it enough time.
Content.
Existential dread?
Tight five.
Entrepreneurs could learn something from comedians.
The question is not always:
“Why did this happen to me?”
Sometimes the better question is:
“Can I turn this into something?”
Your Legacy Is Basically the Trail of Evidence That You Existed
Carissa’s phrase — “leave a trail of themselves” — is actually much deeper than it initially sounds.
That is what creators do.
You leave behind jokes.
Businesses.
Podcasts.
Stories.
Videos.
Art.
Products.
Ideas.
Relationships.
Maybe a mildly concerning Google search history.
The important part is that something exists because you existed.
That’s legacy.
It doesn’t necessarily have to be a billion-dollar company.
It could be the person who remembers something you said ten years later.
It could be someone laughing because they desperately needed to laugh that night.
It could be someone seeing you do something unconventional and thinking:
Wait. Am I allowed to do that too?
Yes.
Apparently you are.
Also, Can We Discuss the Ferrari?
Because this is where Carissa’s legacy philosophy goes from inspirational to spectacular.
“I wanna burn out in a Ferrari.”
Not:
“I would like to establish a prudent retirement portfolio.”
Not:
“I hope to reach an optimized savings rate.”
No.
Ferrari.
🔥🏎️🔥
There is something wonderfully honest about admitting that legacy and ambition don’t have to look spiritually enlightened every second.
You can want impact.
And money.
And freedom.
And absurd experiences.
And something unnecessarily fast parked outside.
Humans are allowed to contain multiple objectives.
You can want to help humanity and have excellent seats.
This Is Also Why Legacy Launcher Labs Exists
We talk about legacy constantly around here.
But not the boring kind.
Not:
“Please complete this 73-page strategic legacy assessment.”
Absolutely not.
We mean:
What are you actually making while you’re here?
The business.
The book.
The podcast.
The weird idea everyone told you was ridiculous.
The company you started after somebody fired you.
The story you finally told.
The thing you built because you got tired of waiting for someone else to give you permission.
Your legacy isn’t something that magically appears when you’re 87.
You’re building it right now.
Sometimes intentionally.
Sometimes accidentally.
Sometimes while recording a podcast and suddenly announcing your desire to burn out in a Ferrari.
The Legacy Launcher Lesson
There are probably two terrible ways to live.
One is believing everything you do must become historically significant.
Exhausting.
The other is believing nothing you do matters.
Also wrong.
Somewhere in the middle is a much more interesting philosophy:
Make things.
Tell stories.
Make people feel something.
Leave evidence.
Have fun.
And if possible…
apparently…
Ferrari.
🎙️ Legacy Launchers Podcast
Featuring Carissa Gomez — Stand-Up Comedian & Aerospace Professional
We talk about comedy, identity, mental health, what people leave behind, and why apparently a perfectly respectable definition of legacy can end with:
September is Life Insurance Awareness Month, which means it’s time to talk about everyone’s favorite dinner-party topic:
Death.
😂
Okay, not exactly.
After sitting down with Emily Gonzalez (@RiseUpEmily) for the Legacy Launchers Podcast, I realized that life insurance is actually much less about death than it is about income, family, financial education, and what happens to the people who depend on you when life doesn’t go according to plan.
And Emily’s family learned some of those lessons the expensive way.
The $50,000 Lesson
Before Emily’s family entered the financial-services world, they were ripped off for roughly $50,000.
That number matters.
Because “we made a financial mistake” sounds abstract.
$50,000 doesn’t.
That can represent years of savings.
A down payment.
A college education.
A business investment.
Or a very painful crash course in financial literacy.
But the interesting part of Emily’s story isn’t simply that her family lost the money.
It’s what happened afterward.
Instead of letting one terrible financial experience define them, they started learning.
They learned more about money.
They learned about protection.
They learned about life insurance.
And eventually, that knowledge became a business.
From Losing $50K to Replacing Two Incomes
This is where the story gets really interesting.
Emily’s family didn’t just dabble in insurance.
They built a business that eventually became substantial enough to replace two traditional job incomes.
That’s quite a transformation:
Lose $50,000 → Get financially educated → Build a business → Replace two incomes.
There’s an important lesson there for entrepreneurs.
Sometimes the thing that hurts you financially becomes the exact thing that forces you to understand money better.
And sometimes that education becomes valuable enough that you can help other people avoid the mistake you made.
That’s not just recovery.
That’s turning an expensive lesson into an asset.
Your Biggest Asset Might Be Your Paycheck
Most people insure their homes.
They insure their cars.
They insure their phones.
Some of us are probably paying insurance on electronic devices we don’t even remember owning anymore.
But we often forget about the thing paying for all of them:
Our ability to generate income.
Imagine someone making $100,000 a year.
Over twenty years, that represents roughly $2 million in gross income.
At $150,000 a year?
That’s $3 million.
Suddenly the question becomes less:
“Why would I need life insurance?”
And more:
“If my income disappeared tomorrow, what would replace it?”
That’s the question Emily’s work forces families to confront.
What 9/11 Taught Us About Insurance
During our conversation, Emily also referenced a $24 million insurance-payout example connected with 9/11.
Whatever policy or carrier you’re discussing, the larger lesson is sobering.
On September 10, 2001, thousands of families had absolutely no idea how different their financial lives might look twenty-four hours later.
Nobody plans for something like that.
And that’s exactly the point of insurance.
You aren’t predicting tragedy.
You’re preparing for the financial consequences of something you hope never happens.
Because losing someone is devastating enough.
A family shouldn’t simultaneously have to figure out:
Can we still afford the house?
Who pays the bills?
Can the kids stay in school?
What happens to the business?
How do we replace this income?
Insurance doesn’t remove grief.
It can remove some of the financial panic surrounding it.
Life Insurance Is Basically a Love Letter With Math
The insurance industry has somehow managed to give an incredibly emotional concept some of the least emotional vocabulary imaginable.
Premium.
Underwriting.
Beneficiary.
Death benefit.
Rider.
Very romantic.
😂
But strip away the terminology and the idea becomes surprisingly simple:
If something happens to me, I want the people I love to be okay.
That’s it.
Everything else is paperwork and mathematics.
And I think that perspective matters because many people avoid insurance simply because talking about death feels uncomfortable.
But maybe the conversation isn’t really about death.
Maybe it’s about responsibility while we’re alive.
Building a Business With Family
Another part of Emily’s story that interested me was that this became a family business.
I have complicated feelings about family businesses because my own mother once wanted us to work together.
My younger response was basically:
Absolutely not.
I loved my mom.
I just didn’t necessarily want her to simultaneously be my mom, business partner, supervisor, financial adviser and the person asking why I hadn’t called her that week.
😂
But after losing my mom, I understand the idea differently.
Building something together isn’t only about income.
You’re transferring:
Knowledge.
Relationships.
Values.
Experience.
Stories.
And hopefully opportunity.
That’s what a legacy actually is.
Not simply what somebody inherits after you’re gone.
It’s what you help build while you’re here.
Making Money and Protecting Money Are Different Skills
Entrepreneurs love talking about making money.
Revenue.
Sales.
Growth.
Scaling.
$10K months.
$100K months.
Seven figures.
Eight figures.
But there are really three different financial skills:
Creating wealth.
Protecting wealth.
Transferring wealth.
Being excellent at the first one does not automatically make you excellent at the other two.
You can build an incredible business and still leave your family financially vulnerable.
You can earn a huge salary and still have no meaningful protection.
You can accumulate assets and have no clear plan for what happens to them.
That’s why financial literacy matters long before someone considers themselves “rich.”
The Most Expensive Education Usually Comes After the Mistake
Emily’s family lost roughly $50,000.
That experience helped push them toward financial education.
That education eventually helped create a business.
And that business ultimately helped replace two incomes.
That’s an entrepreneurial story I find much more interesting than pretending successful people never make expensive mistakes.
Sometimes they do.
The difference is what they do next.
September Is Life Insurance Awareness Month
So instead of treating Life Insurance Awareness Month as a reason for someone to immediately sell you something, use it as a reason to become more educated.
Ask yourself:
What insurance do I actually have?
How much income does my household depend on me producing?
Who are my beneficiaries?
Would employer-provided coverage really be enough?
What would happen financially if my income disappeared?
And perhaps the most uncomfortable question:
Would my family inherit stability—or a financial mess?
You don’t have to have all the answers today.
But you should probably know the questions.
Because Emily’s story demonstrates something important:
Financial ignorance can be incredibly expensive.
Sometimes it costs $50,000.
Sometimes it costs years.
But if you’re willing to learn from the experience, the lesson can become something bigger.
In Emily’s family’s case, it became education, a business, two replacement incomes—and a legacy.
And that seems like a pretty appropriate conversation to have in September.
Don’t Let Belonging Bankrupt Your Business Discernment
The “belonging tax”—and why access does not automatically equal acceptance
The invitation arrives, and suddenly your inner middle-schooler puts on a blazer.
A prestigious room! Successful people! Important connections! Possibly a velvet rope!
You think: If I can just get inside, I’ll finally have access—to clients, credibility, opportunities and maybe emotional adoption by a board of directors.
Then a few months pass. You have paid the membership fees, made introductions, volunteered your time, solved problems and generated value. What did you receive in return?
A lanyard and another vague promise that, if you keep proving yourself, someone may eventually remember your name.
That gap between the value you give and the value you receive is what I call the belonging tax.
It is what we pay when our desire to be chosen becomes stronger than our willingness to evaluate the room clearly. And for entrepreneurs—especially women, immigrants, minorities, introverts and anyone who has spent part of life feeling like an outsider—that tax can become very expensive.
Wanting to belong is human
We are living through a strangely lonely era. People are asking chatbots how to manage their money, make decisions and reply to other human beings they feel too emotionally exhausted to answer themselves. I love AI—I am building a business around helping people use it—but even the best technology cannot eliminate our need for real community.
Entrepreneurs feel that need acutely. Starting a business often means hearing some version of “Are you sure?” from your family, “That seems risky” from your friends and “No” from almost everyone you try to sell.
Of course coworking spaces, business clubs and private communities are thriving. Founders need people who understand why we wake up and decide to create a company before lunch.
There is nothing weak or embarrassing about wanting community. The problem begins when we confuse exclusivity with value and admission with belonging.
Labels are a lazy substitute for curiosity
I went to UC Berkeley. Depending on who hears that sentence, I apparently attended either one of the world’s great startup factories or a four-year drum circle with a minor in communism. Some people hear “Berkeley” and simply assume I am a crazy communist.
Add the fact that I am Chinese, and some people seem to expect me to arrive with a hammer, a sickle and a detailed proposal for redistributing their golf clubs.
The reality is less convenient and more interesting. Berkeley gave me enormous entrepreneurial confidence. Starting companies felt normal there—almost like breathing. That environment taught me that if I had an idea, I did not need to wait for a mysterious authority figure to hand me a permission slip.
At the same time, I am a business owner. I care about taxes, safety, law and order, representation, empathy and opportunity. Human beings are allowed to contain more than one political talking point.
Republican and Democratic identities can both become clubs that cloud discernment. We start deciding whether an idea is good based on which “team” said it instead of whether the idea works.
And what is the most Republican college in America? None of them. After tuition, nobody has any capital left to conserve.
That is the larger point: a label can tell you what room someone entered, but it cannot tell you whether the room is wise, useful or right for you.
A locked door does not guarantee treasure
Exclusivity is not automatically bad. Sometimes it reflects real standards, trust or thoughtful curation. But a locked door does not necessarily hide treasure. Sometimes it hides a poorly run organization with nicer chairs.
Before joining a prestigious club, ask a very unglamorous question:
What is the return on investment?
If I spend $500, I want to understand how that investment could create $5,000 in value through revenue, referrals, introductions, education, credibility or relationships. It does not always have to produce a perfect 10X financial return. Some communities are worth joining because they bring genuine friendship, joy, support or personal growth.
But there should be a return you can name.
Do not count only the membership fee. Count:
● The hours you volunteer
● The introductions you make
● The problems you solve
● The emotional energy you spend
● The opportunities you miss while trying to prove yourself there
There is an old joke about the difference between dogs and cats. You feed a dog, and the dog thinks, This human must be God. You feed a cat, and the cat thinks, I must be God.
Some organizations are cats.
Every time you contribute, they do not become more grateful. They simply become more convinced that they deserve another serving.
Access is not acceptance
This is the distinction I wish more people discussed.
You can have the door code, sit at the table and appear in the group photo—and still be merely tolerated.
Acceptance is not a vague compliment about how “valuable” you are while everyone continues extracting your labor. It looks like reciprocity. People advocate for you when you are absent. They make useful introductions. They follow through. They invite you into opportunities rather than keeping you in an endless audition.
Ask yourself:
● If I stopped providing free labor, would these people still call me?
● Has anyone here introduced me to a meaningful opportunity?
● Does someone advocate for me when I am not in the room?
● Are promises followed by action?
● Do I leave energized—or depleted?
● Am I receiving opportunity, or only another demand to “prove myself” for 60 more days?
Sometimes there are legitimate reasons another person receives more access. They may have a longer relationship, communicate more often or contribute in ways you do not see. Discernment does not mean assuming every disappointment is discrimination.
It means looking honestly at the pattern.
If you are contributing as much—or more—while remaining permanently outside the circle, stop trying to win a game whose prize is another round of unpaid work.
Build communities around people, not prestige
I have worked at traditional golf courses, and I now spend time at a modern club in Tustin that combines coworking and indoor golf. What I appreciate about the modern model is that it works with the lives of busy younger professionals. You can build relationships and enjoy golf without surrendering nine hours of your day or memorizing a dress code written during the Eisenhower administration.
It is customer-centered rather than institution-centered.
That distinction matters because the world is now too connected for organizations to survive forever by saying, “Adapt yourself to us because we are prestigious.” If one room refuses to evolve, someone else will build a better room.
I saw the creative power of that idea while helping with a children’s entrepreneurship camp in Newport Beach. The kids openly admitted that they hated sitting still and answering endless questions in school. Honestly, that may have been the most entrepreneurial answer possible.
Instead of treating their rebellious energy like a defect, we channeled it. In one week, they created products, brands and working websites. They made hats, mugs and shirts. Some began selling almost immediately.
The same instinct that says, “I do not fit the existing system,” can become destruction—or invention. Our job is to help people become creators rather than merely consumers.
Conduct a belonging audit
This week, take a piece of paper and draw a line down the middle.
On the left, write everything you have contributed to a group, club, company or relationship:
● Money
● Time
● Labor
● Leads
● Introductions
● Ideas
● Credibility
● Emotional support
On the right, write what you have received:
● Revenue
● Referrals
● Introductions
● Skills
● Support
● Advocacy
● Friendship
● Enjoyment
● Credibility
● Follow-through
Do not manipulate the numbers to protect the fantasy. Give the relationship a clear review period—30 or 60 days—and decide what evidence would make it worth continuing.
This is not about turning every human interaction into a spreadsheet. Generosity matters. Community matters. Sometimes we give simply because giving is meaningful.
But generosity without boundaries becomes self-abandonment. And “exclusive” is not a synonym for “valuable.”
You can build your own table
I am not interested in creating an anti-old-white-men club. Plenty of older white men have helped me, encouraged me and opened doors for me. Replacing one form of tribalism with another is not progress.
I am interested in building rooms where contribution is recognized, opportunity is reciprocal and people do not have to erase themselves to participate.
If you have spent years feeling excluded, you may be especially vulnerable to overpaying for the chance to be chosen. You may bend farther, work harder and tolerate more because you believe admission will finally settle an older question about your worth.
It will not.
Your worth is not issued by a membership committee. You do not have to make a business club responsible for your belonging.
Visit the prestigious room. Learn from it. Make connections. Play golf if you enjoy it. But keep your judgment with you when you walk through the door.
There is nothing wrong with wanting to belong. Just do not let that desire negotiate against your business interests.
Walk away from the wrong table—and remember that you are fully capable of building your own.
Li Lin is the founder of Legacy Launcher Labs and host of the Legacy Launcher Podcast. She helps entrepreneurs use AI to turn ideas into businesses, build their visibility and find their next client. Learn more at LegacyLauncherLabs.com.
Learn the Game: Golf, Access, and the Rooms You Think You Don’t Belong In
I’m a Chinese-American woman who immigrated to the United States in 2000.
I had to learn English.
Later, I learned something else that turned out to be surprisingly useful:
Golf.
I’ve worked at three golf courses—Tustin Ranch, Dove Canyon, and Marbella. Recently, I even won the under-40 putting contest at a Newport Beach Chamber event and walked away with a round at Pelican Hill.
Yes, I’m bragging a little.
But there’s a bigger reason I care about golf.
Golf taught me something about access.
Golf Is More Than a Sport
People joke that golf is an old white man’s game.
Okay.
Then learn it.
If certain industries, relationships, conversations, and opportunities are happening on golf courses, why voluntarily exclude yourself from them?
This applies especially to women, minorities, immigrants, first-generation professionals, and anyone else who walks into a room and immediately wonders:
“Am I supposed to be here?”
My answer is increasingly:
Who decided you weren’t?
Sometimes the fastest way to expand your life is simply to enter environments you haven’t experienced before.
Take the golf lesson.
Attend the business event.
Visit the country club.
Learn AI.
Understand finance.
Learn accounting.
Walk into the room.
You don’t have to become somebody else. You are simply expanding the number of environments in which you know how to operate.
Don’t Confuse Discomfort With Danger
Years ago, I attended a dinner at a yacht club in Orange County.
The event was publicly advertised. I paid the approximately $50 admission and showed up.
At some point, a man said something to me along the lines of:
“You know you don’t belong here, right?”
That comment stayed with me much longer than it should have.
I wasn’t from a yacht-club family. I didn’t grow up around that world. And because I didn’t have much context, one person’s behavior started shaping my opinion of the entire environment.
Looking back, I think I gave that person too much power.
Maybe that club wasn’t for me.
Fine.
There are other clubs.
Maybe one person didn’t want me there.
Fine.
There are millions of other people in the world.
One uncomfortable experience shouldn’t determine the boundaries of your life.
Sometimes You Need to Stay in the Room
I’ve also learned something important from difficult conversations.
When somebody tells you about an experience involving race, gender, culture, class, religion, or identity, you don’t necessarily have to agree with every conclusion they draw.
But sometimes it is worth simply staying in the room.
Listen.
Ask questions.
Get curious.
Every one of us has blind spots because every one of us has only lived one life.
I know what it feels like to move through America as me. I don’t know what it feels like to move through America as somebody else.
And somebody else doesn’t know exactly what my experience feels like either.
That’s why diverse relationships matter—not because everyone needs to think alike, but because people who are different from you can see things you cannot see.
If everyone around you has the same background, worldview, social circle, and experiences, your network may be comfortable—but it may also contain enormous blind spots.
Understand the System—and Then Decide What to Do With It
The world is not perfectly fair.
That’s hardly breaking news.
There are historical inequalities. There are biases. There are old boys’ clubs. There are advantages some people inherit and others don’t.
But recognizing those things is only step one.
Eventually I have to ask:
What am I going to do with that information?
I can spend my entire life cataloging the ways the game is unfair.
Or I can learn how the game works.
Better yet, I can build a new game.
If golf has historically been dominated by men, women can learn golf.
If technology is creating enormous economic opportunities, learn technology.
If AI is changing business, learn AI.
If wealthy people congregate in certain places, become curious about those environments.
If an existing organization genuinely doesn’t want you, maybe the answer isn’t spending years begging for admission.
Build your own.
That’s entrepreneurship.
Your Environment Changes You
One of my teachers once made an observation that stayed with me.
She noticed that students from different racial backgrounds often separated themselves socially—but among affluent students, those divisions sometimes seemed less pronounced because they shared another identity: socioeconomic status.
I don’t think money magically eliminates prejudice. It doesn’t.
But the observation taught me something broader:
Shared goals can sometimes become stronger than the categories separating us.
Business does this.
Sports do this.
Entrepreneurship does this.
Building something together does this.
That’s part of why I’m interested in rooms where ambitious people gather.
If you want to become wealthy, spend some time understanding people who successfully create wealth.
If you want to become an entrepreneur, surround yourself with builders.
If you want to become technically capable, spend time with engineers.
Your environment quietly teaches you what is normal.
Choose your normal carefully.
Access Without Discernment Is Not the Goal
There is another side to this.
I don’t believe you should desperately chase every exclusive room just because powerful people are inside it.
Access isn’t the ultimate goal.
Discernment is.
Ask yourself:
Are these people responsible?
Do they keep their commitments?
When something goes wrong, do they take responsibility—or immediately blame someone else?
Do they build people up?
Do they operate with integrity?
Do you actually want to become more like them?
Getting into the room means very little if it’s the wrong room.
The goal isn’t proximity to status.
The goal is proximity to people, knowledge, opportunities, and environments that help you become who you are capable of becoming.
You Can Be the Person Who Changes the Room
Maybe golf has historically looked like an old white man’s sport.
Then make it an Asian woman’s sport.
Make it a Black woman’s sport.
Make it a Latina entrepreneur’s sport.
Make it a first-generation immigrant’s sport.
You don’t have to destroy the room to change the room.
Sometimes you simply have to enter it.
And sometimes after entering it, you realize:
I can build something better.
That’s been one of the biggest lessons of my entrepreneurial journey.
Not every room is meant for me.
Not every invitation deserves a yes.
Not every rejection deserves my energy.
But I also refuse to reject myself before anybody else gets the opportunity.
Create Your Own Unfair Advantage
Legacy Launcher Labs is ultimately about exactly that.
Creating access.
Learning things you weren’t taught.
Meeting people outside your usual circles.
Trying technology that initially intimidates you.
Building the website.
Launching the company.
Recording the podcast.
Learning golf.
Entering the room.
And eventually, creating rooms of your own.
The world may never become perfectly fair.
But you can become more capable.
You can become more connected.
You can become more discerning.
You can become harder to exclude.
And you can create opportunities for the people coming behind you.
So if there’s a room you’ve been telling yourself you don’t belong in, maybe it’s time to reconsider.
Take the lesson.
Show up.
Stay curious.
Learn the game.
And if you discover that the existing game isn’t worth playing?
Build your own.
Learn more and build your legacy at LegacyLauncherLabs.com.
Antarctica. The Galápagos. Patagonia. The Arctic. Some trips aren’t vacations—they become part of your story.
When we talk about legacy, we usually talk about businesses, careers, money, property, or what we leave behind.
But what about the life we actually lived?
The places we saw.
The people we traveled with.
The stories we’ll still be telling 20 years from now.
On this episode of the Legacy Launchers Podcast, I sat down with Michelle Atkinson, a National Geographic Expedition Leader whose travels have taken her to some of the most extraordinary places on Earth—including the Galápagos Islands, Antarctica, the Arctic, and beyond.
And our conversation brought up a question that has stayed with me:
What if your next vacation wasn’t just a vacation? What if it became part of your legacy?
We Spend So Much Time Preparing for “Someday”
Entrepreneurs are particularly good at postponing life.
Someday, when the business is bigger.
Someday, when the kids are older.
Someday, when there’s more money.
Someday, when work isn’t so busy.
Someday, when everything finally settles down.
There’s only one problem:
Someday has a habit of moving.
There will always be another project, another email, another client, another deadline and another reason that right now isn’t the perfect time.
Michelle’s world offers a completely different perspective.
Instead of measuring life entirely through productivity, we can also measure it through experiences.
Did you see something that changed the way you understood the planet?
Did you go somewhere that made you feel very small—in the best possible way?
Did you share an experience with your parents, children, partner or friends that none of you will ever forget?
Those things have value too.
Antarctica: Go Somewhere That Doesn’t Feel Real
There are destinations you visit.
And then there are destinations that make you wonder how you ended up on the same planet.
Antarctica is one of them.
Icebergs. Penguins. Whales. Enormous stretches of wilderness with almost no evidence of human civilization.
It is about as far from another day sitting behind a laptop as you can get.
And that’s exactly why a trip like Antarctica can matter.
Sometimes we need to leave our normal environment to remember how enormous the world actually is.
The inbox suddenly seems a little less important.
The problem that consumed your entire Tuesday suddenly doesn’t feel quite so enormous.
You come back with something more valuable than another object sitting in your house:
perspective.
The Galápagos: See the World Differently
The Galápagos Islands are another destination that belongs on the once-in-a-lifetime list.
This isn’t simply about going somewhere beautiful.
It’s about encountering a living environment unlike almost anywhere else on Earth.
Wildlife, volcanic landscapes, ocean ecosystems and an extraordinary natural history all exist together in a place that has fascinated explorers and scientists for generations.
Trips like this remind us that travel doesn’t have to mean lying beside a hotel pool.
Travel can make you curious again.
It can teach children more than a textbook ever could.
It can turn a family vacation into a story people remember for the rest of their lives.
Patagonia: Choose the Adventure
Then there’s Patagonia.
Massive mountains.
Glaciers.
Lakes.
Wild landscapes stretching through the southern edges of Argentina and Chile.
Patagonia represents something I think many entrepreneurs understand instinctively:
the pull toward the unknown.
Building something from scratch requires a willingness to step into uncertainty.
So does exploring somewhere you’ve never been.
You don’t know exactly how everything will unfold.
That’s part of the point.
Sometimes the stories we remember most aren’t the perfectly planned moments.
They’re the moments where we went somewhere new and discovered what happened next.
The Arctic: Go to the Edge of the Map
There is something inherently fascinating about the edges of the world.
The Arctic is one of those places.
Extreme landscapes force you to confront scale, nature and just how narrow our normal day-to-day experience can become.
Most of our lives happen within a surprisingly small radius.
Home.
Work.
Coffee shop.
Grocery store.
Repeat.
There’s nothing wrong with routine—we need it.
But occasionally, it might be worth going somewhere that completely destroys your sense of routine.
Somewhere your phone can’t provide the most interesting thing in front of you.
Somewhere you look around and think:
I cannot believe I’m actually here.
Don’t Just Collect Things. Collect Stories.
One of my biggest takeaways from talking with Michelle is that we should reconsider what we mean when we talk about an “investment.”
We invest in businesses.
We invest in houses.
We invest in stocks.
We invest in education.
But experiences can be investments too.
You might spend money on an object and barely remember purchasing it five years later.
But ask someone about the first time they saw a whale breach beside their expedition ship, walked beside a glacier or watched wildlife in the Galápagos?
They’ll probably tell you the entire story.
That’s the difference.
Things depreciate. Some memories appreciate.
The older you become, the more valuable certain experiences can feel.
Take the Trip While the People You Love Can Take It With You
There is another part of travel we don’t talk about enough:
Timing.
There are trips you can theoretically take at any point in your life.
But you cannot necessarily take them with the same people.
Parents get older.
Children grow up.
Friends move away.
Health changes.
Schedules change.
Life changes.
The destination may still be there ten years from now.
The exact combination of people you want standing beside you might not be.
That’s why a truly extraordinary trip can become more than travel.
It becomes part of a family’s history.
Years later, someone says:
“Remember when we went to Antarctica?”
And instantly everyone knows the story.
That’s legacy too.
Your Bucket List Shouldn’t Just Be a List
Most people have some version of a bucket list.
Antarctica.
The Galápagos.
Patagonia.
Africa.
Japan.
The Arctic.
That dream trip you’ve been talking about for ten years.
The problem isn’t that we don’t know where we’d like to go.
The problem is that it’s very easy to leave those destinations sitting permanently under the heading:
“One day.”
So maybe the better question isn’t:
“Where would I like to go someday?”
Ask:
“What experience would I deeply regret never having?”
That question creates a very different list.
Legacy Is More Than What You Leave Behind
At Legacy Launcher Labs, I spend a lot of time thinking about people creating things.
Businesses.
Brands.
Books.
Communities.
Ideas.
Careers.
All of that matters.
But there’s another side of legacy:
actually living the life you’re working so hard to build.
You don’t want to reach the end with an impressive résumé and an untouched bucket list.
Build the company.
Launch the idea.
Make the money.
Create something meaningful.
But also see the penguins.
Stand beside the glacier.
Take your mother.
Take your father.
Take your kids.
Take the person you love.
Go somewhere that leaves you speechless.
Take a ridiculous number of pictures.
Come home with stories you will tell for decades.
Because ultimately, your legacy won’t only be measured by what you created.
It will also be measured by how fully you lived.
Listen to the Legacy Launchers Podcast
Hear the full conversation with Michelle Atkinson on the Legacy Launchers Podcast as we explore extraordinary destinations, once-in-a-lifetime travel, and why the experiences we choose can become some of the most meaningful pieces of the legacy we leave behind.
Yes, I was born in the 1900s, and yes, I was born for this.
I grew up in a culture that had a strange expectation for women–on the one hand, Chinese culture prioritized men over women overall, BUT women were also expected to do double duty, not only that of a wife and mother but also a regular job and work just like a man.
For a very long time I felt that being a woman was less than being a man–I tried as hard as I can to study to get into a great college so I can have better career prospects, and transparently the bachelor degree program of 4 years was developed for a BACHELOR, literally a man who was single and had no obligations in life.
I was lucky enough to be born into a maternal family of high achieving women, my grandma was an accountant for a cable company in Shanghai, a very well respected job, my Mom took over that job when she retired and worked at the spa casino after leaving my biological father when she moved to Palm Springs and then became a high performing employee at the Agua Caliente casinos as one of the founding dealers they brought when they first opened it up.
Life as a single Mom was to me a better choice for her and for myself, I didn’t even want to deal with my father’s toxic passivity looking back and I commend my mother’s bravery for leaving a neglectful situation.
Fast forward to today, I love what I do, I always knew I was sort of unemployable but had a job that I loved the last couple months although God had other plans for me–and the one thing I keep hearing in my head daily is
I’m born for this.
I got this.
I’m born as a Chinese woman because that is the BEST thing ever, after doing some research I found out my demographic has the MOST amount of self made female billionaires.
Now I don’t really care about being a billionaire although a multi millionaire sounds nice, today I am more about being of service and helping the people around me.
Collectively, there is a lot of trauma for Chinese women who were born with the harmful messaging that it is our fault for being born female, to the point we would be aborted just for being who we are, and for that I am grateful for my parents for not ending me although many times I think they probably wanted to LOL, but if someone out there has ever felt that they didn’t matter or that they were done with it, know that God is NOT DONE WITH YOU YET otherwise you wouldn’t be reading this, many times after my grandma’s passing I felt so much like..f this..I am done, but I am glad I kept hanging on.
Today I love my life, I love my new business, I am excited to help the people who want to be helped and I’m excited to create a new tribe of people who might not have been accepted by the old boy’s club but have the confidence to create their own tribe, whatever it might be, or even creating their old girls’ club, who am I to judge. But know that you were BORN FOR THIS!
Make the Complex Simple: Storytelling, AI & Legacy with Ron Ploof
What makes someone a great communicator?
According to storyteller, electrical engineer, author, and longtime podcaster Ron Ploof, it isn’t sounding smarter.
It’s making complicated ideas easier to understand.
That idea became the central theme of our conversation on the Legacy Launchers Podcast, where Ron shared lessons about storytelling, entrepreneurship, artificial intelligence, authenticity, and the kind of legacy we leave behind.
His personal legacy statement says it best:
“He made the complex simple.”
And after watching Ron take highly technical presentations and turn them into stories people can actually understand, remember, and act on, that description fits perfectly.
From Electrical Engineering to Storytelling
Ron is an unusual combination: an electrical engineer who loves storytelling.
His interest in stories started long before his professional career.
One of the biggest influences in his life was his grandfather, a Boston cab driver with only a sixth-grade education who happened to be an incredible storyteller.
Ron remembers sitting with him, listening to stories that could be funny one moment and deeply emotional the next.
Years later, while going through his mother’s belongings, Ron even discovered stories he had written as a young child.
Storytelling, it turned out, had been part of him almost from the beginning.
But engineering gave Ron another skill that would eventually shape how he teaches storytelling.
One professor explained that engineers essentially spend four years learning how to do one thing:
Take a huge problem, break it into smaller problems, solve those smaller problems, and eventually solve the big one.
Ron applied that same principle to communication.
When someone eventually asked him how storytelling actually worked, he realized that storytelling came so naturally to him that explaining it felt like explaining how to breathe.
So he did what an engineer would do.
He broke it down.
That process eventually became a storytelling methodology he could teach others.
The Biggest Mistake Entrepreneurs Make in Presentations
Entrepreneurs often know too much about their own businesses.
They understand every feature, every technical detail, every statistic, and every reason their product is brilliant.
Then they stand in front of an audience and dump all of that information on them.
Ron says great communication needs to speak to three places:
The head. The heart. The gut.
That idea connects to Aristotle’s concepts of ethos, logos, and pathos: credibility, logic, and emotion.
Founders are often very good at the logic part.
They have numbers.
Features.
Research.
Data.
Technology.
But Ron asks a much harder question:
“So what?”
Why should the audience care?
What problem does this solve for them?
Why should they feel something?
What changes in their life if they say yes?
That simple question can completely change a pitch.
Facts Don’t Automatically Make People Care
One of the biggest lessons from Ron’s work is that information and persuasion are not the same thing.
A presentation can be technically perfect and still fail.
Why?
Because people don’t make decisions based on facts alone.
They need to understand what those facts mean.
Storytelling creates that bridge.
Instead of simply explaining what your product does, storytelling helps someone understand:
Why the problem matters
Who is affected
What changes
What is at stake
What the future could look like
That is why stories are so powerful in sales, fundraising, leadership, public speaking, and marketing.
Stop Trying to “Sound Professional”
Another theme from our conversation was authenticity.
Ron has a strong reaction when people say they want to make something “sound more authentic.”
His response is basically:
Why not just be authentic?
Many people act like there is one version of themselves they use in real life and another version they need to perform in business.
Suddenly they stop being funny.
They stop speaking naturally.
They replace normal language with corporate jargon.
They start sounding like everyone else.
Ron challenges that.
If humor is part of who you are, humor can absolutely belong in professional communication.
If you are naturally conversational, use that.
If you have personality, don’t edit it out.
Your job is to communicate.
And in an era where AI can generate endless amounts of polished but generic content, personality may actually become more valuable.
AI: What Can We Automate vs. What Should We Automate?
Ron has been an early adopter of technology for decades.
He began podcasting in 2005, when the medium was still brand new, and watched social media transform who was allowed to publish information.
AI reminds him of those earlier technology revolutions—but there is one major difference.
AI became available to almost everyone at roughly the same time.
People who normally would have had years to slowly adapt to a new technology were suddenly confronted with it immediately.
That helps explain some of the fear and polarization surrounding artificial intelligence.
Ron isn’t interested in reducing the debate to “AI is good” or “AI is bad.”
Instead, he asks a much better question:
“The question isn’t just what AI can do. It’s what AI should do.”
That distinction matters.
There are many tasks technology can automate.
But that doesn’t necessarily mean every human interaction should disappear.
Ron talked about the importance of asking what should remain human.
Empathy.
Comfort.
Judgment.
Connection.
Humor.
Creativity.
Storytelling.
His philosophy can be summarized in one of the strongest lines from our conversation:
“Let AI do what AI does well. The things that make us human are the things we should be doing.”
AI May Make Human Skills More Valuable
There is a lot of fear that AI will eliminate jobs.
Ron takes a longer historical view.
Major technological changes have eliminated certain types of work before, but they have also created entirely new industries and professions.
His expectation is that AI will follow a similar pattern.
That doesn’t mean disruption won’t be painful.
Some jobs will change.
Some tasks will disappear.
New skills will become necessary.
But instead of trying to compete with AI at the things machines do best, people may need to double down on the skills that machines struggle to replace.
Ironically, the rise of artificial intelligence may make distinctly human qualities even more valuable.
Storytelling Is How We Make Sense of the World
Ron also introduced the idea of the “meaning mandate,” a concept associated with storytelling researcher Kendall Haven.
Human beings are constantly taking information from the world around them and trying to find patterns.
When something doesn’t fit those patterns, our brains want to understand why.
In other words, we naturally create stories in order to make sense of reality.
Stories aren’t just entertainment.
They are one of the primary ways humans organize information.
That is why a story can often make a concept easier to remember than a spreadsheet filled with facts.
For founders, teachers, marketers, and leaders, that is incredibly important.
If people cannot understand your idea, they cannot act on it.
Ron’s New Historical Novel
Ron is also applying AI to a major writing project.
He is working on a historical novel based on the Acadian diaspora of 1755.
The story follows a married couple separated during the forced deportation of the Acadian population.
The husband is sent south while his wife escapes with their young children.
Both eventually make extraordinary journeys before finding one another again.
Ron uses AI not to replace the writing process, but to help manage and understand large amounts of historical information.
It is a good example of the distinction he makes throughout the conversation:
AI doesn’t necessarily need to replace human creativity.
It can support it.
Your Legacy Might Be a Ripple
We ended the episode by returning to the idea of legacy.
Ron said something I think a lot of people need to hear.
Most of us probably won’t be remembered by name hundreds of years from now.
But that doesn’t mean our lives don’t matter.
Our influence travels through other people.
A professor said something to Ron decades ago that he still remembers.
His grandfather shaped how he thought about storytelling.
Ron has helped other entrepreneurs communicate better.
Those entrepreneurs influence other people.
And the ripple continues.
You may give someone advice today and never find out that it changed the direction of their career.
You might introduce two people who eventually create something important together.
You might encourage someone at exactly the moment they were thinking about quitting.
You may never know.
But the ripple still exists.
Ron put it beautifully:
Try to leave the world a little better than you found it.
Final Takeaway
There are a lot of lessons entrepreneurs can take from Ron Ploof.
Make complicated ideas simple.
Don’t confuse information with communication.
Speak to the head, heart, and gut.
Ask “So what?” before assuming your audience cares.
Stop removing your personality in an attempt to sound professional.
Use AI for the things AI does well—but protect the parts of work and life that deserve to remain human.
And don’t underestimate the impact of helping one person.
Because your legacy may not be one giant accomplishment.
It may be hundreds of small ripples you leave behind along the way.
Listen to the Episode
🎙️ Make the Complex Simple: Storytelling, AI & Legacy with Ron Ploof
Listen to the full episode of the Legacy Launchers Podcast to hear Ron’s thoughts on storytelling, AI, entrepreneurship, communication, and creating a legacy that extends far beyond yourself.
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Meta description: Storyteller and engineer Ron Ploof shares how entrepreneurs can communicate better, use storytelling to persuade, stay human in the age of AI, and create a lasting legacy.
Beyond the Hustle: Cathey Kuo on Building Wealth, Community & a Life That Actually Feels Good
What happens when you achieve the financial freedom you thought would make you happy—and realize something is still missing?
That is one of the questions at the heart of our conversation with Cathey Kuo, an eight-figure real estate investor, seven-figure business owner, community builder, and founder of the Realigned Collective.
Cathey has spent more than 15 years in commercial real estate, built her own brokerage team, invested in property, and achieved financial independence at an age when many people are still figuring out their careers.
But the most interesting part of her story isn’t how much she accomplished.
It’s what happened after she accomplished it.
On the Legacy Launchers Podcast, Cathey joined us to talk about wealth, ambition, burnout, community, AI, women in commercial real estate—and why building a successful life requires more than simply working harder.
Her Legacy: Help One Million Women Become Self-Made Millionaires
We start every Legacy Launchers conversation with the end in mind:
What do you want your legacy to be?
Cathey’s answer was immediate.
Her mission is to help one million women become self-made millionaires.
That doesn’t necessarily mean personally coaching one million people.
Her vision is exponential.
Help one woman become more successful.
She helps five or ten more.
Those women help others.
The impact keeps spreading.
It’s the classic idea that a rising tide lifts all ships—but applied to women’s wealth, entrepreneurship, confidence, and opportunity.
For Cathey, legacy isn’t simply what she personally accumulates.
It’s what other people are able to build because she helped them believe it was possible.
When Achievement Becomes Your Identity
Cathey describes herself as a lifelong high achiever.
For much of her life, accomplishment became intertwined with self-worth.
If she was achieving, producing, earning, and doing more, she felt valuable.
So she worked.
A lot.
And it worked—financially.
By her early 30s, Cathey had reached financial freedom numbers many people don’t reach until decades later.
At first, it was exciting.
Travel.
Great restaurants.
Designer purchases.
Freedom.
She had accomplished the things she thought she was supposed to accomplish.
And then something unexpected happened.
She still felt empty.
That realization led to a difficult period of questioning what success actually meant.
If money wasn’t the final destination, what was?
If achievement wasn’t enough, what came next?
The First Mountain vs. the Second Mountain
One idea that helped Cathey reframe her life came from David Brooks’ book The Second Mountain.
The first mountain is largely about building yourself.
Career.
Financial security.
Achievement.
Status.
Independence.
You climb until you reach the goals you thought would make everything feel complete.
But some people reach the top and discover another question waiting for them:
“Now what?”
The second mountain is different.
It is about contribution.
Family.
Friends.
Community.
Service.
Purpose.
Legacy.
Instead of asking:
“What else can I achieve?”
You begin asking:
“How can my life make someone else’s life better?”
That shift became central to Cathey’s definition of alignment.
Success That Looks Good Isn’t Always Success That Feels Good
This may be the biggest lesson from Cathey’s story.
You can build a life that looks extremely successful from the outside while quietly sacrificing the things that make life worth living.
At one point, Cathey evaluated her life across areas like:
Business
Finances
Health
Family
Community
Relationships
Personal fulfillment
Business?
Great.
Money?
Great.
Many of the other categories?
Not so great.
She had sacrificed enormous parts of her life to achieve the areas she had prioritized.
Eventually her body forced the issue.
After years of pushing, hustling, and overriding exhaustion, Cathey experienced a period where her health deteriorated severely enough that she could barely function normally.
It became a wake-up call.
If success costs you your health, relationships, community, and happiness—is it actually success?
That question eventually helped inspire the philosophy behind the Realigned Collective.
You Don’t Have to Build Everything Alone
Another major transformation for Cathey involved hyper-independence.
She grew up with the mentality many high achievers recognize:
If you want something done right, do it yourself.
Don’t bother people.
Don’t ask for help.
Handle it.
Be strong.
Keep going.
For a while, that mentality can look like a superpower.
You become incredibly capable.
But eventually it becomes a bottleneck.
Cathey shared a line that stayed with her after hearing speaker Jeremy Poincenot:
“Alone we are limited. Together we are limitless.”
That changed the way she thought about collaboration.
Asking for help isn’t necessarily weakness.
Accepting help isn’t laziness.
And allowing someone else to contribute can actually give them fulfillment as well.
The goal isn’t to become less capable.
It’s to stop assuming capability means doing everything yourself.
Hire for Soul. Train for the Role.
So how does Cathey decide whom to work with?
Her answer comes down to character.
One phrase she loves is:
“Hire for soul. Train for the role.”
Skills can often be taught.
Character is much harder to change.
For Cathey, the biggest factors are:
Integrity.
Honesty.
Work ethic.
Shared values.
Servant leadership.
She looks for people who genuinely want to contribute—not people chasing a title because they want to be “the boss.”
That philosophy has helped her build a team organically.
Rather than constantly recruiting through traditional job postings, women began approaching her through speaking engagements, social media, referrals, podcasts, and relationships.
They wanted mentorship.
They wanted to enter commercial real estate.
They saw someone doing it differently.
Today, that has grown into a team designed not only to serve clients but also to create opportunities for more women in commercial real estate.
Why Relationships Matter More in the Age of AI
Cathey is also enthusiastic about AI—but perhaps not for the reason people expect.
She doesn’t see AI simply as something that replaces workers.
She sees it as something that can make people dramatically more efficient.
One example from the interview was a commercial real estate task involving a lease, rent schedule, and commission calculations.
Instead of manually spending an hour creating spreadsheets, she was able to use AI to significantly reduce the work.
And here’s the important part:
What does she want to do with the hour she gets back?
Go to an event.
Meet someone for coffee.
Make a phone call.
Build a relationship.
Connect people.
Do something human.
That’s a much more interesting way of looking at AI.
The goal isn’t merely:
How much human interaction can we eliminate?
Maybe the better question is:
How much administrative work can we eliminate so humans have more time to actually be human?
Cathey believes soft skills—communication, connection, emotional intelligence, relationship building—may actually become more valuable as AI becomes more capable.
We agree.
AI can generate a spreadsheet.
It can’t replace a meaningful friendship.
Action Breeds Confidence
Cathey has also spent much of her career in a field historically dominated by men.
Commercial real estate can be intimidating for anyone entering the industry, and women can face another layer of assumptions, exclusion, or simply not seeing many people who look like them in senior positions.
Her advice?
Action breeds confidence.
You don’t necessarily become confident and then act.
Often, it happens in the opposite order.
You take the meeting.
Make the call.
Submit the offer.
Attend the conference.
Ask the question.
Start the business.
Do the uncomfortable thing.
Then your brain receives evidence:
I can do this.
Too many people wait for confidence before taking action.
But confidence is often the result of action.
Analysis paralysis, imposter syndrome, and overthinking can keep extremely capable people sitting on the sidelines.
Sometimes you simply have to do the thing.
Everything Is More Negotiable Than You Think
After stepping back from traditional brokerage to focus on her family’s real estate portfolio, Cathey began getting questions from entrepreneurial friends.
Can you look at this lease?
Can you help me understand this deal?
Can you review this agreement?
Unfortunately, sometimes they came to her after signing.
At that point, her ability to help was limited.
The document was already legally binding.
That experience revealed something she wishes more business owners understood:
Ask questions before you sign.
Many business terms that people assume are fixed are actually negotiable.
Commercial leases in particular can have major financial consequences.
The lesson extends far beyond real estate.
Don’t be afraid to ask.
Don’t assume the first offer is the only offer.
And don’t wait until after a decision is irreversible to seek expert advice.
Why Cathey Chose Las Vegas
Cathey also shared why she ultimately built much of her real estate life in Las Vegas.
For an investor, choosing a market isn’t simply about liking a city.
You need to understand things like:
Landlord-tenant laws
Taxes
Regulation
Population growth
Economic development
Business environment
Future supply
Where the city sits in its growth cycle
Cathey sees Las Vegas as a market that still has considerable room to grow.
But interestingly, one of her favorite things about Vegas isn’t financial.
It’s the people.
Because so many residents are transplants, Cathey has found people unusually open to meeting others, forming friendships, collaborating, referring business, and building new communities.
And for someone whose philosophy increasingly centers on human connection, that matters.
Building a Life by Design
All of these experiences eventually contributed to Cathey creating the Realigned Collective.
The idea isn’t to abandon ambition.
It’s not anti-money.
It’s not anti-business.
And it certainly isn’t about doing nothing.
It’s about asking:
Can I build an ambitious life without destroying myself to get there?
Can your business make money and fit your strengths?
Can you grow and protect your health?
Can you achieve and have relationships?
Can you work hard without making exhaustion your personality?
Can success feel as good internally as it looks externally?
Cathey calls this building a life by design.
We might call it a better definition of success.
The Legacy Launcher Lessons
Cathey’s story leaves us with several ideas worth carrying forward.
1. Money is important—but money isn’t the entire mountain.
Financial freedom creates possibilities. Meaning comes from deciding what you do with those possibilities.
2. Achievement is something you do, not who you are.
Your value doesn’t disappear when you’re not producing.
3. Community is leverage.
Great people expand what is possible.
4. Accepting help can be an act of strength.
You don’t receive bonus points for unnecessarily making everything harder.
5. Choose partners based on character.
Skills matter. Integrity matters more.
6. AI should give us more time to be human.
Automate the spreadsheet. Keep the coffee meeting.
7. Confidence follows action.
Stop waiting to magically feel ready.
8. Your body is part of the business plan.
Burnout isn’t evidence that you’re ambitious enough.
9. Success needs to be periodically realigned.
The goals that motivated you five years ago don’t automatically deserve to dictate the next five.
10. Legacy multiplies.
Help someone rise, and you may never know how many other people they eventually lift.
So, What Does Your Second Mountain Look Like?
At Legacy Launcher Labs, we’re fascinated by people who build.
Businesses.
Careers.
Communities.
Ideas.
Wealth.
But we’re even more interested in the question underneath all of it:
What are you building it for?
Cathey Kuo’s goal is clear:
Help one million women become self-made millionaires.
That’s bigger than a brokerage.
It’s bigger than another transaction.
It’s a legacy.
And maybe that’s the question worth asking yourself today:
If you accomplish everything you’re currently chasing, what will you want to build next?
