#158 Behind the Mic: Lisa’s Journey to Launch Career Clarity Transcript

THIS IS AN AUTOMATED TRANSCRIPT… PLEASE FORGIVE THE TYPOS & GRAMMAR! xo-Lisa.

Lisa Marker Robbins 00:00

Welcome to a very special third anniversary celebration episode of College and Career Clarity. I’m Lisa marker Robbins, and today we’re doing something a little different and honestly a little vulnerable. Instead of me interviewing a guest, you’ll get to know the person behind the mic me. This is a replay from when my Podcast Producer Doug Sandler invited me to the nice guys on business podcast where you’ll hear stories I rarely share, from my early days as a high school teacher to the personal experiences that shaped my approach to college and career coaching, you’ll discover why I get up every morning excited to help families avoid confusion and overwhelm as they launch their teens and young adults into thriving independence and a career they love. Since 2010 I’ve had the privilege of helping over 4000 students find their career path. But you might not know the winding road that led me here you’ll hear about the moments that challenged me, the victories that inspired me and even some of the mistakes that taught me the most valuable lessons. Whether you’ve been with me since episode one or you’re just joining our community, this episode peels back the curtain on why I’m passionate about helping teens find clarity in their college and career choices, you’ll understand why I believe so strongly that with the right guidance, everything really can be figured out. Let’s get personal and dive right into me and the guest chair.

Doug 01:38

Nice Guy community, there was a time, if you remember when college counseling was simply a visit to the guidance counselor, you guys remember that a decision and then an application to your choice of pretty much any college that you were interested in attending. Well, that process is probably not real world in today’s climate, admission competition, academic achievements and a process which can oftentimes be overwhelming without professional support. Well, enter Lisa marker Robbins. She’s been the guiding light and support for 1000s of college bound hopefuls here to talk about how she does what she does, and all things in between. Lisa, welcome to The Nice Guys on business. Hey

Lisa Marker Robbins 02:17

Doug, thanks for having me. Yeah, happy

Doug 02:19

to have you here? I don’t think you have been here before, have you, or maybe you have, I have not first time experience. Long time listener, first time caller, right? Absolutely. Well, somewhere around Episode 1600 this will be, this will be out. I cannot believe amazing, February of this coming year, in February 2025, Strick and I will be celebrating our 10 years of podcasting and a little old book called nice guys finish first started it all. Why did you even get started? We’ll talk about your business in a second. But I know you’re a podcaster. I know you’re with our production company, which we well appreciate through the years. Why did you even start a podcast to begin with? Lisa,

Lisa Marker Robbins 02:59

yeah. Well, first of all, thank you to you strict i You guys are my mentors. I wouldn’t be able to do it. People are always like, wow, how do you do a podcast? I’m like, Oh, you overestimate my capabilities. I can show up and have a conversation, but I have a whole team behind me, and I would not be able to do it without you guys. So thank you so much our

Doug 03:19

pleasure. Well, the podcast is called College and Career Clarity. And if anything that we say today, and of course, Lisa says today, it piques your interest in what she does, how she does it, I’m going to put a link in the show notes so you have that and access to her website as as well. But let’s dig into the content. So you went, why

Lisa Marker Robbins 03:38

did I do that? Well, why? Yeah, yeah,

Doug 03:40

okay, yeah, okay, sure, that’d be great. Sorry I either stopped you or you gave me enough pause for me interrupted. Just keep

Lisa Marker Robbins 03:47

you asked. And then I thanked you for all your great work. And

Doug 03:50

then that’s all I wanted.

Lisa Marker Robbins 03:54

You teed that up. Great. Thank you. So I had a previous company that I had for nearly 26 years. I just sold it in July, and my newer company launched Career Clarity, flourish, coaching was pulled out of that. It went up my old company. You know, well, 25 years there wasn’t barely an Internet back then, right? Website. So the first thing I started doing to try to help educate and have good conversations with people was a blog over at that company, and that blog’s still going. And so when I started, when I pulled the career development, career coaching for teens and young adults out of that company, because I knew that was an asset that was not sellable with that company, because it’s very dependent on me and my talents and my passion, and it’s what I love. So I pulled it out, created a new company, and so I naturally just started blogging. And I very quickly, this was in 2021 and you know, we started in May 2021 I sent my. First newsletter. Have not missed a week since then, incredible. And, you know, I just doubled down on that weekly content to connect with people, and I was writing blogs, and then a couple times I had a conversation with somebody on Zoom, and I just put the recording on my blog. And then pretty soon, by like, July of that year, I’m like, I’m tired of writing. I love having conversations with people. They’re so easy and natural. It’s just easier for me or for somebody else. Writing a blog would be easier. So I’m like, Okay, I think I’m going to do a podcast, and I had to put it off until I couldn’t launch it until January of 22 because I was also recording writing and recording my course for my college major and career coaching. And so that’s how I got into it. I really I went to a podcast because I thought it was going to be easier, and it has been,

Doug 05:50

well, I can remember. And thank you for sharing your your journey and some of your backstory. I can recall, at least in my own experience. I was writing for a Huff Post for almost three years, 150 posts, and every Sunday night, because the blog would come out on Monday morning, at 8am every Sunday night, I’d get like, the hives. I would be like, scared shitless. I’m like, What am I gonna I’ve gotta be able to create this content and have it come out. I didn’t even know the subject matter, and there was no chat GPT to help at that point. And so I’d sit down, probably for 90 minutes or two hours, and agonize over the writing. And, you know, I always try to do everything with a little humorous spin. So it would always be like a little lesson that I learned that week or that month in my in my life and and how I could put that spin on building a business. But when I started podcasting, it there was never, I mean, Strick and I at our busiest, we were doing five episodes a week. Imagine that so. But I’ve never run out of like shit to say. I always have able to have a great conversation with Strick. And then our Monday episodes, which are these episodes, like the ones that that you’re on right now, they it’s almost like I get to tee up a free coaching session for Doug, you know. So meet with these wonderful people like yourself, learn a whole bunch of stuff I didn’t know before, and then I have all of this knowledge and wisdom that I can go out into the world and be dangerous enough to say, well, I don’t know anything more about that, but I want you to call Lisa, because she knows everything about it. Well,

Lisa Marker Robbins 07:15

it’s, you know, it’s so true, like I say all the time, my world is bigger and better because of my guests. And so I know some people do solo podcasts. I rarely do solo episodes. Those give me hives, by the way, but I do your

Doug 07:30

friend John Putnam, that’s all he has for the most part. Oh, I can’t understand how. I mean, look, I appreciate the production business, and I love being able to help them, but I keep coming back to them with Don’t you want to expand and have guests? He’s like, ah, you know, I’ll get to guess when I get to guess. But I did not imagine easier,

Lisa Marker Robbins 07:46

right? I had to do one. So I did one a few months ago. And it’s not that I have to, it’s like, sometimes it’s just natural that. And you know me, I’m batching way ahead, like, right now I’m done through December, practically, recording. So it’s not like, oh, I need a filler episode, but there’s just some topics that it makes sense for me to do a solo on. And every time I go into them and I’m like, I have hives going into it, because it’s easier to have a conversation with an expert and somebody who is just fun. And then I get there and I think, Oh, this is gonna probably be 10 minutes. They always end up like 20 minutes. Most of my guest episodes are 30, but my solos are 20. And I’m like, oh, okay, I could. And then this year, one of my earlier ones, this year is actually, it looks to be the most popular episode of 2024, so I’m like, dang it, that means I have to keep doing solos when it makes sense. Yeah, definitely you and far between. Well,

Doug 08:42

that’s cool, and I appreciate the fact that you do what you do. I want to make a brief comparison to and I’m not comparing you at all to a wedding planner at all, but I’m going to make the comparison about a wedding planner. You know, every bride that’s out there that goes through the wedding process, when they’re done and they’re married, and they had such a great experience with their night they want to become a wedding planner, because they have all this experience of one under their belt. And when you went through the experience of either applying for college yourself or applying with your kids to colleges, did that give you the motivation or inspiration to do it, or did you strategically work on this career as a as an end point when you just because of your love of the environment, right?

Lisa Marker Robbins 09:25

Well, it was, it was never the end point. That was, this was never the goal. As a career coach, I teach like the first step is building self awareness. They even their studies that multiple studies that have been done, they’ll look at like high performing CEOs and the ones who perform the best, it’s not their socio economic background, it’s not where they went to college, it’s not an Ivy League education, it’s not how much money they are currently making. It is self awareness. And so when we start to build self awareness, and then we the next step is building career awareness, but we’re not going to make. Really dumb choices, we are going to make informed choices that really are helping us design a future instead of just drift into it. And so if I go all the way back to the 1980s when I was applying to college and thinking about it like one of the things that is a through line for me that I had self awareness around is I love helping other people. I actually really like people call me crazy. Working with teenagers and young adults, I’m not always the easiest age group, but I would 1000 times over rather have that age group than a bunch of elementary kids. Yeah, I started out as a teacher, but I’m still a teacher. At the heart of it, like my podcast is teaching, My Course is teaching, and I’m still serving teenagers, young adults, and really my ways also serving and supporting their parents. And so that hasn’t changed at all over the years. I just set out to support that age group. And so one of the things I was doing back in like 2000 I started doing the private college counseling in about 2008 I found that I could build a better college list if we really have certainty around the end goal of college, and instead of just throwing spaghetti at the wall and seeing what you know What fits or picking for great weather or football teams. You know, that’s where a lot of kids go, and that does not produce the best outcomes. Well, it’s such a pliable

Doug 11:28

age, though. I mean, I think about myself, when I was going through high school into college, it was a given that. I mean, my parents never even gave me an option. I just thought it was just a given, maybe a Jewish upbringing in a, you know, higher end or middle upper, upper middle class. Maybe that’s just what is expected of you when you get to 12th grade. And I can remember, probably 90 plus percent of our school seniors graduating seniors probably went to college from my school. So I’m like, Okay, well, I guess I’m going to college. So I applied where my parents told me to University of Maryland, at College Park. That’s where I went. Didn’t really even matter what my SAT scores were. I think I just had to sit in on the exam. But didn’t have to really focus on the exam, or never focused on extracurricular activities, nothing at all. And I think about what that one key word that you said, just in your in your last response, and it was that word drifting. I think I drifted into my first career, which drifted into my second career, and then my third career as a as a young adult in my 20s. And then I figured something that I really liked doing, building relationships and selling, those were two things that I really enjoyed doing. And then once I got strategically engaged and had this awareness of where I wanted my career to go, that’s when really the success started to find me when you drift through something like a nine to five job, oftentimes, yeah, you oftentimes don’t find success because you’re just letting life happen to you instead of letting making life happen. Is that kind of the approach that you take with your with your students or your clients? Yeah,

Lisa Marker Robbins 12:57

it really is. I think you know, one of the myths that we bust around here is that kids can’t figure it out, but with intention and devoting a little bit of time and resources to it. It can’t. It is very figure outable. I also want to take the pressure off. We are not asking somebody to know what they’re going to be at our age, right? I always say you’re making an informed first step into career to successfully launch into adulthood, so that you’re thriving and happy, and there will be pivots. Now, if you drift into those first steps into adulthood, you’re more likely to have these large swings, like macro pivots, right instead of where, like I didn’t drift. There were some constants that I was very aware of in my life, even extracurricularly, or just fun things that I would do. Think back to when I was a second grader and I’m like, you know, okay, to the neighborhood kids, like, I’m gonna teach you everyone. I’m gonna be the teacher. Of course, I was gonna be the teacher. You sit down. Let me tell you to quit talking. I started a youth group when I was in college for a group of kids that were in a very tiny community and didn’t have access to anything like that. And so there was that entrepreneurial speak streak, that education piece, that that age group. And so my pivots, I’ve had nine of them now, but they’re micro pivots, right? I didn’t have to know. I mean, we couldn’t have done this. I couldn’t have set out to do this in 1987 when I was graduating right now. And you also bring up the fact that, like good Jewish upbringing, and you’re just expected to go to college. My 26 year old started college and didn’t finish college, and he said to me recently, I’m like, why, you know, if you really thought you didn’t want to go, which I as a mom, go like, Oh, I don’t know that he didn’t really want to go. But he’s like, Well, gosh, with what you do for a living? Like, what option did I have? And that’s really why I’m pivoting more to, like, supporting everybody, because it’s. Not all of my kids went to or finished college. My youngest just graduated college, and so I just got a pay raise. But although now she’s engaged and I’m getting ready now and then, I’ll have grandkid, I mean, whatever, I’ll never get a pay raise. But you know, it’s it’s really about figuring out who you are and what the world of work looks like. And so even that son of mine who said, like you said, your parents didn’t have the conversation. He and I talked more about where, but not if. And so I, you know, I don’t know what my role was in that, but guess what? He He dropped out of college and he’s still working as a computer network engineer, because that’s a job that you can do without a college degree. Some you can’t. But let’s be aware of what those are.

Doug 15:48

Well, a couple things. One of the things I had shared with with our community in the intro was that, you know, it’s not as it used to be in the olden days when I was applying to college, but then I think about it, and think about the access to education, not higher level education, but just online education, is so prevalent now. Is that making it easier or harder for for rising seniors who are going to college next year to to apply, or does it make the competition so much more grand, because everybody has access to this great thing called the internet.

Lisa Marker Robbins 16:24

Yeah, so when it comes to applying to college, all that has done, as well as test optional policies since COVID, yeah, is open the flood gates to the number of schools. You know, when I was first doing this work, back in the early 2000s kids would apply to three to five colleges on average. And now, you know, it’s eight to 1011, I hear lots of kids applying to double digits. I don’t encourage that so. And then when schools are getting more applications, then there’s more competition. And so, quite frankly, I don’t think that that’s helpful, because that just leads itself to overwhelm right? And so more choices are not necessarily better. And you know, one of the things we do, I’m a master certified Berkman personality coach, and we every student I work with and act and actually all of my adult coaching clients, executive coaching clients, all take the Berkman assessment. So it really leans into wiring. It’s a very unique tool. It’s not just how we behave, but it uncovers what we expect from other people in our work environment. So there’s certain natural wiring that people have that too many options are just going to overwhelm them and they’re going to freeze up. And then there’s others that it just wouldn’t bother them. And so that’s, you know, it’s really a lot of that’s personality based. So I think more options overall. I would say it’s not necessarily good, but there’s certain personalities for whom it really isn’t good. I

Doug 17:57

find I’m a master pain in the ass detector, and I can do that very quickly with not only prospective clients, but for current clients as well. I’ve, I feel like, you know, there’s so many certifications, like disc certification and all the others that are out there. Yeah, and I, and I find that people fit into these molds quite nicely. You probably know almost instantly when you meet somebody, if you’re they’re going to make a good client. I want you to think back to maybe those early, early days when you first were getting started and put out your your counseling, your coaching shingle, anybody with a checkbook was potentially a client, right? Oh,

Lisa Marker Robbins 18:33

for sure, like you’re to death to not answer the phone or reply to an email right away back in the day. So

Doug 18:39

how have you learned to differentiate? Because you have, you have a really good way. You have a really good attitude about business. You’re very analytical about how you make decisions. I can see that just through your involvement with our program, your your input is essential to make sure that we’re we get you the services that you that you need, and you communicate that really well. So I find that a lot of people, when they come into a coaching environment, they have a really hard time with that. They’re like all over the place. So how do you kind of focus? How do you focus, not only your your student clients, but it sounds like you’re in the executive coaching world as well. Yes, how do you focus them in so that you can get back what you give out as a client? You want them to give to you as a as your client, don’t you?

Lisa Marker Robbins 19:28

Yeah, you know, I don’t go into it expecting a certain outcome, because it’s a journey that I allow for that journey and that growth and that discovery to help us figure out the next step, right? And so it is funny like you know, the easiest coaching client probably would be somebody a lot more like me. Perhaps it’s analytical and an action taker and has a really positive attitude and. An abundance mindset and a lot

Doug 20:02

of patience, huge amount of patience. Thank you, by the way, for your level of patience. You know, we we learn as we grow ourselves. And you’ve been there to to say, Hey, you guys kind of screwed up on that, but it’s okay. I appreciate how you know we have, I’m not going to name any clients. I’m not putting any clients under the bus at all, but we have some clients that kind of lead with that Iron Fist, and it like makes you feel really crappy. Anywhere

Lisa Marker Robbins 20:25

doesn’t get you. Oh my,

Doug 20:29

you are so right, it doesn’t get you anywhere. And why do people have to treat other people that way? Sorry, I don’t need to get off in a tangent here. But it’s, it’s so true, you are what you put out. And don’t you understand that? Well,

Lisa Marker Robbins 20:40

it’s like, I don’t care how bad, like, if the if the problem was huge, and even if it resulted in you as the individual going, like, you know what? Probably not a good fit for me. Whatever it is. I’m not talking about you guys. I’m like anything, right? Yeah, probably not a good fit. You can always leave with kindness, and you don’t have to burn the bridges on the way out. So, like, why wouldn’t you just say, like, Hey, I noticed. I always, and this is one of the things, I coach the parents. You know, I’m in a unique position. I sell a service to parents who are paying for it, but we are serving an outcome for their child, right? But we’re also supporting the parents along the way. And one of the things that I always talk about, and it’s harder to remember with my own now adult children, but is, you know, be curious and ask a question, even if something’s a statement, like, Hey, you screwed up. Like, there’s no reason to say that ever. Just say, like, Hey, I noticed. Or, you know what? I saw that and that made me wonder, or think about it, can always be turned into a question, and you’re gonna get farther, whether it’s with your, you know, growing up child that you want to kids think we want them to be in our houses forever. We really don’t. We want to be an empty nester. We love being empty nesters out here, right? So

Doug 21:59

I have been for many, many years and and love it. 28 and 31 my kids are so this is, it’s a great part of the part of the the relationship. And then then they come back to you too, you know, they come back to you as adults, and they start asking, like, advice and questions. They’re like, wow, that’s that would that’s comical that you asked me that question when used to insult me about that

Lisa Marker Robbins 22:20

12 years ago, my actually my 26 year old, I remember when. So he’s my oldest, and I have twins who are 23 and then I have bonus kids that are 30 and 33 and when I was raising and I’ve been with the bonus kids for like, 12 years now, so when the kids were going up, but particularly with my oldest, the one that I just referred to, the computer network engineer, I would think to myself, Oh, do I want to die on this hill? And believe me, like you’re a college coach and your kids dropping out of college and losing their scholarship, like it’s that’s No, not fun, right, right? And it’s like, do I want to die on this hill? Is this one worth it? And I would always ping forward too, because I say that, that particularly the male brain, is not fully developed until 26 or 60, or 60, you can speak for yourself, Doug. And I would think to myself, like, what do I want that? How intact do I want to be with him at 26 is this? The hell I want to die on? Is this? And so he just turned 26 back in April, and I said to him, I remember I used to always wonder, like, at 26 I’m like, here we are, and I think we’re in a really good place, and we both acknowledge the rocky places, and we have such a great relationship now. But I think learning, and I learned, I made some really big mistakes, especially, we all make mistakes with our oldest right, like how to get curious instead of directing how to ask questions. And you can do the same, whether it’s your Podcast Producer or anybody else, right? Totally

Doug 23:53

agree. And I think for those parents that are out there, you may or may not agree with this. I think we lose our kids mentally somewhere between 12, and we don’t regain them until about 18, but then we really gain their respect somewhere around 25 or 26 so you’re right in the zone. And that’s when both of my kids, just coincidentally came back to me around the same time, in their mid 20s. And it is, it is great. You know, they’re buying houses, they’re getting married, they’re they have significant others, and they’re asking questions about money, about stuff, and it’s like, oh my god, this is what I’ve been waiting for. Like, I wasn’t a real I I’m just going to say this for those in our community that have probably heard me say this a lot on the Friday show, I’m probably not the greatest father in the world at for a two year old, but man, I know I’m a great father for a 25 plus year old, just because the you’re now in the zone. For me, now I’m excited and interested in what you’re doing, not that the plays and all of that stuff wasn’t interesting to me, but buying the houses and getting married or getting divorced or whatever it is, those are all the things that I know that I can help with. So yeah, welcome to the fold, guys. You

Lisa Marker Robbins 24:56

have a son and daughter. Yeah, 20.

Doug 24:59

Whatever. My son is 28 and my daughter is 31 Okay,

Lisa Marker Robbins 25:03

tell me this. I feel like our girls came back younger than our boys. Yeah,

Doug 25:09

yeah. I think that my daughter is more like me from a business perspective. She’s really ambitious or she’s really entrepreneurial. My son likes the the the structure of a nine to five, and I think part of it was their career choice, why my daughter started asking questions in her early 20s, as opposed to my son, who I just got back around the past few years. And what’s cool about it is they’re now in the I Love You phase, which is great. I love that when my kids say I love you without me saying I love you first. So Amen. Sorry. I don’t know how we got off on that, on that tangent. But it is interesting to talk about your your kids that way. I would love your comment on on something about like the trades, because right now, you know, with everybody building a home and putting stuff in their house, plumbing, electric, an electrician, a carpenter, a cabinet maker, all of those trade or mechanic, even those five trades are so popular and people are so rising to the top of the socio economic scale, just in the non certified trades like that, or even if they have a certification for that stuff. What’s your thought about that as we enter this world of so much competition in the college environment

Lisa Marker Robbins 26:21

well, and there’s a lot of narrative out there on like Americans, you know, saying that they no longer, I don’t know esteem college that much. And I did dig into that data, it’s more the kids and not their parents right now and and are they really making informed choices? Who knows, but it’s interesting, you know, with my own children, I with my three I had the one who started college, didn’t finish, but was able to stay in the same career, like we did the work when he was in junior high and high school that I do with my clients to get clear on, like what he was wired for. He did the Berkman with me. He did all of that. So we didn’t deviate from the career path. We just changed the road to get there right right. Then with my twins, my daughter just graduated with a business degree, and she is in a management training program with a fortune 500 company. And then you never know what you’re allowed to say and not allowed to say. And then her twin, we took, sent directly to a new trade school, a vocational high school. That was very intentional. It was absolutely the right thing. Once again, we did the work. He was on the path. He has stuck with that path as well. So this is why I’m like, even with we’ve done this process that I do with 4000 students, but I have three in my own family that, and actually with my step kids as well. So when I look at those pathways, it’s just, I always go back to begin with the end in mind. Figure out what you’re wired to do, what you would love, what you have natural aptitudes like, you know, I could think it sounds really cool to be a doctor. I could even have the personality wiring of a person who enjoys being a doctor. I can tell everybody right now Lisa Marco Robbins does not have the aptitude to be successful in medical school, you know. I mean, it might be fun, but holy cow, I would never make it through. So it’s, you know, it’s values, it’s aptitude, it’s wiring, it’s all of it. I am, actually, who knows, we might end up having to change the name of the podcast some at some point, you would be part of that process. I am, actually, I’ve done this work since 2010 with specifically college majors and career coaching and development, things are changing greatly, as you just said, and we are kind of rebranding. I’m revising my course right now, and I’m gonna even revise our funnels into it, and we may even rebrand the podcast, because we really don’t want it to be college heavy. We want it to just be self awareness, careers, finding your path, and we are really going after 15 to 25 year olds. So I firmly, even when I was working exclusively with college bound kiddos, I didn’t believe that that was the right path for everybody. I one of my kids, I intentionally did not even put that on the menu of options or even go down that road with him. What

Doug 29:27

are the what are their parents think when you do that, they they come to you with the the the foresight of saying, or the vision of saying, Hey, I know my kids going to go to college. They, they already automatically assume that the Earth or the sun revolves around the Earth rather than the Earth revolves around the Sun. So they can’t even see the forest for the trees. Yeah, how do you how do you you? Do? You have to shock them in understanding, hey, look, your kid is not bound for college, and that’s not a bad thing. This is just the that’s not what they’re wired for. I love the idea they’re not wired for that. I

Lisa Marker Robbins 29:58

know we need to go. We. This is just smart to do with whatever it is we should go into this journey specifically this, or like I just mentioned, we’ve got both of our daughters getting married, one in 25 and one in 26 you know, I talked to the girls about wedding dress shopping, right? Might go in with an open mind. You might actually and this is what happened to me when I was getting married, you might actually find that something else looks better on you, that, you know. Let the people, let the lady who works at the wedding gown place give you some guidance, because she knows what looks good on bodies, and you know, and going with an open mind. And our oldest, our 30 year old, who gets married, coming in May, she totally bought a dress that would never one that she had her eye on, right? So let’s go into this open minded and be on the College and Career piece. It’s okay, like you could be college curious, or you could be shut down, but this is why we want to work for with everyone. And let’s just start with career and look at the path, or path to get there. Like, if you want to be a nurse, well, I guess you could go LPN to RN to a BSN, right, right? If you want to be an engineer, there’s one path. If you want to be a teacher, there’s one path, right? But a lot of careers, there’s more than one. In my 26 year old is a perfect example of there were multiple paths for how you get into it, and computer engineering work on the hardware side, and so I tend to not talk about the college piece anymore. I’m not doing the college counseling piece. I’m only helping facilitate identifying the career, the major, If college is involved, or whatever the credentialing path is to get to that career, do

Doug 31:41

the parents that are coming to you? Are they aware of that before they before they even have that first conversation with you? Or is that a part of the I’m assuming that’s a part of that first conversation that you have with the discovery conversation you’re having, right?

Lisa Marker Robbins 31:54

Well, so these days, we’re serving everybody through an asynchronous course, and then they get live monthly group coaching calls, and they can add one on one coaching calls, so it is baked into the journey. And what I find is parents who are dead set on college is the only way which you know, mean that’s, I grew up that way too, old school. So old school, very old school. It’s they can go into that process and if, but they’re staying open minded on the career piece most of the time. I mean, if they’re engaging in this process with us, they’re not like, Oh, my son’s going to be a doctor, right? So they at least are open minded on the career piece. And then sometimes they discover that, like, a different path is better. But, you know, there’s a lot of kids that are so good in college degrees, and I mean, I’m one of those crazy ones. I love to learn sometimes, like, I’d be really funny in a PhD because I already have my master’s. Like, I should go get a PhD. I’m like, No, Lisa, stop. There are other ways that you can learn new things.

Doug 33:02

I went to I went to school to get out of school. I mean, that was my only way that I was ever going to find peace with my parents, was to go through get my college education and get out. I actually did better in college because I had the ability to pick the course work that I wanted, rather than, rather than be, you know, driven through chemistry and biology and the and, gosh, math was I sucked at math. I was so bad at math, and so that brought my grades really down, because I didn’t want to focus on it. I just kind of let those things go in my in my high school career, didn’t have to deal with math. Pretty much. My entire college career, I went into journalism and and writing. And for me, those were in broadcast journalism, and those were like the things that I loved and excelled at, and always was like on the college radio station, and then got out and started DJing and spent 30 years as a DJ I mean, all of these things that I loved, loved, loved doing that I did much better college and post college than I did in high school. I felt like I became alive when I was able to make choices on my own. Well,

Lisa Marker Robbins 34:01

you know, I mean, one of the things we cannot deny that when there’s high unemployment, college graduates hold jobs, they just do it’ll be interesting to see if that changes as society changes, or as the numbers change. We were having a lot fewer kids that were even born, kids graduating from high school, right, right? Because of the population, so we’ll see how that plays out. But unemployment levels are better for college graduates than for high school graduates. On average, high school grad or college graduates are going to make far more money, okay, so we can’t argue the value. I still firmly believe the value is there, and I would still, I would go back now and have different conversations with my oldest, but the conversations and the paths that my other two went on were the right paths for them. There are other reasons to go to college as well. So the

Doug 34:59

Social. Implications of going to college were far outweighing the educational components, social reasons, right, right? And I’m not saying to be a partier. I’m just saying to learn how social interaction and relationship building work and getting along with people in a tight environment, all of that stuff was was essential for me to to get into the career path that I’m in. Because without the relationship build, maybe I brought to to the to the to education into college, maybe I brought that skill set, but I never applied that skill set in high school. So

Lisa Marker Robbins 35:32

you get those opportunities to apply it, you know, it’s it’s also as a parent, you and I both can speak as parents of adults. There’s a bridge like, college feels a little safer than just like, oh, at 18 or 19, go move into an apartment and figure it all out like that, right? That feels scary. So it is baby steps into, like, leaving the parents house. So there’s many reasons to go to college. It’s very expensive these days. The Most Expensive Colleges are actually $100,000 per year. Yeah, yeah, and so. But it’s also possible to make really wise strategic decisions to keep if you want to only spend $100,000 a year on college. There’s lots of ways to do that. It’s all about the college list, and so, you know, it’s, it’s deciding, like, if you’re going to make that investment, what are your values and what is your reason for going? I actually on our live coaching group q and a call. It was just this past Tuesday, and I said to all the seniors that are in the course, hey, could you guys just write down right now, why do you want to go to college? Put it in an envelope, seal it, and then open it back up next March, so that when the acceptance is and sadly, some rejections probably come in, or a school comes in, it’s going to be more expensive than you guys can afford to do, which I do think there’s ways to have a college list where you avoid that as well, but open that back up so you again are going back to what’s my intention here. You’re not all caught up in the rah rah and the brand name and and all the wrong things. And I think what gets written on that piece of paper and put into that envelope is going to look a little different for each kiddo. And I encourage the parents to actually write their kids a letter in the fall of the senior year about celebrating who they are and all the things about them, seal it, put it away, and also hand that to them in March when those acceptances come in, because so that your kid just knows like your value to me as a parent is not about where you got in or didn’t go in or where you go. It’s who you are.

Doug 37:39

I think about reading. Thank you for sharing that, and thank you for kind of putting the human element into sometimes a pretty sterile process of applying to schools and writing your essays and doing all of all of the stuff. I don’t even know if they do that stuff anymore, but yeah, so thank you for sharing that. It’s interesting. I read back my mom saved probably every letter that I had ever written ever and thinking back to like when I was at camp at age 12. She’s sometimes she’s 91 now, so she’ll send me a letter in the mail, and it will be like a picture of us at the beach or something that I written to her many, many, many decades ago. And what’s so great about that is, you know, I don’t even know where she’s kept these things through the years. She’ll pick one out, she’ll write a note, and she’ll send it to me. And it’s like, oh, the to know that your your son or your daughter has value, no matter what their age is, and no matter what you were going through at the time. Who knows what trauma or whatever I was dealing with At age 11, probably nothing. But at the same time, I think about man, how, how great must my childhood have been if I was writing these amazing letters to my mom, and my mom kept them all these years, and now is, is resending them to me so very similar to that letter. What a gift. Yeah, yeah. My mom is super great that way. I want to talk just for a quick second before I take a slight right turn, and then we’ll conclude here, but I want to talk for just a second about what does entry look like into your world? If someone has a symptom that they would need to come to you for you to heal, what’s what’s entry look like into your world?

Lisa Marker Robbins 39:10

That’s a great way that you put that question. Thanks. So we have a training video that people can go and watch. It’s freeze complimentary. It kind of it really creates context to why these are important choices. Because the the reality is, at 18, our kids are making decisions that can close doors to pads that will never be open again. It can cost us a lot of money. Can back them into a corner that they feel like they can’t get out out of and so how does this work? And we explain that in the video that also gives them an opportunity, that if they want to work with us, right below that video, when they opt in, it says how they can enroll in the course. And so it gives them 12 month access to us into the course. They. Take the Berkman personality assessment immediately upon getting into our world. And then, while they’re going through the course, and we’re sending like reminders and coaching via email, we’re also showing up live with them every single month. And so it’s pretty simple to get into the course. I really don’t ever want college fresh or high school freshmen doing the course they’re, you know, they’re navigating, just getting their feet planted. But these are important conversations if we’re going to spend six figures or more on college that we need to be having by the time our kids at least halfway the latest, halfway through sophomore year. And I always say it’s never too late. I mean, there are some options that after 12th grade will be off the table. Some doors to some college majors at some colleges will be firmly closed. That no amount of persuasion, money, begging, anything, could open those doors.

Doug 40:54

So people don’t so some colleges don’t want someone that’s taking taking a gap year between high school and college.

Lisa Marker Robbins 40:59

No, they’re okay with gap years. But like, I’ll give you a good for instance, Georgia Tech just really created a policy that, by and large, says, if you didn’t apply to computer science as your first choice intended major, when you’re a 12th grader, you can never switch into that major. That is the same way for nursing at many schools that is the same way for engineering, at some schools that is the same way for business. So over subscribed popular majors, business, engineering, performing arts, yeah, yeah, I can see that anything with field experiences, they have capacity issues. So those are majors that have capacity issues, and they’re harder to get into. And some of them, the colleges even like that Georgia Tech policy or UI UC University of Illinois, they’re the same thing for computer science. Creighton University in Nebraska. That’s nursing University of San Francisco, nursing biomed engineering at Johns Hopkins, same way. Wow. So Wow,

Doug 41:59

incredible. I think about, I think about at 17, when I was a senior in high school. I believe at 16, I was just getting out of my diapers, so I had no way of trying to figure out what the hell I wanted to do. That would have been really hard. But thinking back now what my career path would have been, I probably would have gone to a trade school. I probably would have I enjoy my hand in machines, way too much not to either be a mechanic or somebody that’s working on plumbing or an electrician, and then do that for a very short period of time, become the owner of that electrical firm, and then just, you know, have a whole bunch of electricians working for me, I see that as totally if I could look back at what my career, not that I don’t love podcast production, but it’s like we’ve trained all of these people to do what we didn’t want to do when we first started turnkey, and it’s the same idea we just happen to take advantage of an environment that we think is is really hot right now.

Lisa Marker Robbins 42:49

Well, somebody made a point the other day in an article I was reading in a higher ed publication that I get their newsletter every week, and they said, you know, like when you and I were in school, 70s, 80s, it was called industrial arts. They they took the art out of that, and they just started calling it shop, and then they got rid of it. And so that was part of what started to take us down the pathway of not valuing those types of jobs, educations, things like that. And I totally agree with that, like they dumbed down the name, and then they brought down the perceived value. And now look where we are. We have a shortage of plumbers and electricians and those that actually were bold enough to take that path. They are making huge money,

Doug 43:39

huge money. You had to be bold, in high school that had 90% of the graduating seniors going on to college to be one of the 10% that did something other than, you know, probably even of the 10% fewer of them, less than 10% went into the trades and the other just got a job. So it was, it was. It was not a popular choice when I was in high school. And it was probably one, I think you’re 100% right. It was probably one that was looked down upon at that time that I’m like, Why the hell was that looked down upon? It’s great. I it’s so hard I try to get back into these, you know, my old Mustang and my old Ford truck, and I have an old I love getting into those things all day, every day. And if I could do it as a career, I certainly would. I want to take a right turn for a quick second, because I want to talk to the entrepreneurs that are in our community, that are building a business. And if you tell me to pound sand when I ask questions like this, feel free to tell me what made you to go somewhere else with the question, and we’ll edit it all out magically through this great production company, when you said you were doing something for 26 years that you decided to sell the business. What did that look like like? How did you know as a as not A, not somebody that’s in the college world or in the coaching or executive coaching space, but somebody that owns a business? How did you know when it was time for you to to sell that shingle, and how did you know how to price it? And do all the things that you did in order to sell your business.

Lisa Marker Robbins 45:02

Sure. So that sale closed in July of 2024 and I always knew I was building something to sell. I would say I started the business in 1999 and it still is in the like test prep, college counseling. It’s in that space, right? So I didn’t like leave to a totally different space. So I, early on, knew that I was building, it was obvious I was building something that would have value, that I would be able to sell someday. But I was in really enjoying it for like, the first 18 years or so. And I was building a team, you know, we talk about a replacement ladder. So I kept coming up the replacement ladder and had a team under me, and then this college major and career coaching, this career development for teens and young adults that I started doing as a service within that company, in 2000 you know, eight, nine. It was a process of figuring it out, but that’s where my heart was, and I started to see such transformation. And as an executive coach, I was seeing the same kind of transformation for these teens and young young adults as I was for my business coaching clients. And so I was like, I felt just a calling to go all in on that. And I was in 2019 I’m 20 years into my business, and I just was ready for something new. Like, yeah, over the 20 years that I had that business, I’d create a new service line, I’d get it all up and running, I build out all the SOPs, the curriculums, whatever, and then I’d hand it off to somebody else to run. And I’d done that over and over and over, because I do tend to get bored, and I like variety, and I like startup, and so that’s how I had managed that for 20 years. And then I got to the point where I’m like, well, let’s go bigger. Let’s just get rid of the other company that at times, you know, I would get sucked back in, and I I was having these feelings like, oh, I would start to feel it in my body, like, oh, I don’t want to have to go to that meeting, right? Oh, my gosh. I’m trying to focus on this over here. And I keep getting interrupted. And I thought, You know what, it’s probably time. And about that time, in 2018 I landed in Forbes for this college major and career coaching work, which kind of blew up. And then it was like, there’s not enough Lisa to go around at all. I was feeling very stressed. So 19 was a year. I said, Okay, I’m going to do this. So I met with some brokers early on to just not even say, like, right, so my business did you say, like, What’s that process? So educate yourself. Like, what’s the process have I screwed up over here? Do I even have something that’s sellable? One of the brokers I met with said 80% of the people that approach Him do not have a sellable business, right?

Doug 47:43

They don’t have any SOPs. They don’t have any they have not nothing at all. And and without them, the business fails. And that’s a horrible business to be in. That’s like being DJ Doug. It was horrible. I built myself these great golden handcuffs making a ton of money, but it stepped out of the business, and my business completely flops.

Lisa Marker Robbins 47:58

Exactly so I had already built the SOPs. I already had the staff, but then they did advise me, your books need to tell the financial books need to tell the story of what you’re selling. And part of what was sticky for me that I had to put a lot of work into is I was pulling a service line out of that company and putting it into a new company. So I had to create a new LLC, because I wanted that right, right part I was going to keep right. And so there was a lot of work, but I just got a community of people around me, other people, other executive coaches, who are friends of mine. I have a very rich world of that, John Putnam being one of them, and some other friends of his, of mine. And so we I just kept educating and kept diligently working on it. And then I actually approached somebody in my industry about buying, who was, like, loosely a competitor, about buying in September of 23 and I thought, we’ll see what she says. And she was like, well, let’s keep talking. And so we just gently, just had conversations at first, and then in 24 we spent 24 like, figuring out the deal. So, yeah, very important,

Doug 49:10

somewhat important or not important at all. Sounds like you’ve been married for about 12 years. Second Second marriage.

Lisa Marker Robbins 49:17

Second marriage. Been married 10 years together, 12 got it

Doug 49:21

so in 12 years. Or how important, somewhat or not important at all, the support of someone, I know you had a successful business. You probably didn’t need them to buy in or approve or any of that stuff. But how important, just from a psychological perspective, was it to have someone there by your side, behind you, giving you encouragement? If he did that at all, I don’t know, but tell me about how that worked,

Lisa Marker Robbins 49:45

I would say Rob’s role that he played was very much an emotional support during the hard times. Right? He has always been corporate America, middle management. Corporate America loves his job. Got. Worried at what he does, and my world is so foreign to him. So there was not, he couldn’t add anything to those conversations. But he would encourage me to, like, not stop, keep having the conversations. It’s gonna be okay. And then I would say, like, you know what? If everything goes to hell in a hand basket and we have not he’s like, Oh my gosh, you’re okay. He would like, pull me back in when he’s like, you’re being a little dramatic there. You know, we’re gonna still eat. And so he was emotionally supportive. And then having my coaching, my executive coaching, friends and business owners and entrepreneurs, I have a very rich world of people like that, and so they were important from the business side of it, yeah, yeah. And they also gave me some emotional support, but So Rob just got to be like, my support, my rock, my cheerleader. So that’s

Doug 50:50

that’s great. I I’ve always had support in my life from what, no matter what I’ve decided to do, no matter how crazy call it Bucha, no matter how crazy it is in my world, I’ve always had somebody, whether it’s my mom or my significant other, or any of my wife, my ex wife, had them to support me. I just didn’t know, like, what? What is normal out there in the world? It sounds like you had a pretty normal, great relationship, supportive spouse, and it’s really cool that he doesn’t know your world. And I can relate to that also. My first wife was not at all an entrepreneur, completely afraid of anything entrepreneurial, but always there to say, you can do this. It looks like you’ve done this before. You can do this and do it. That

Lisa Marker Robbins 51:28

was huge. And, you know, I actually kept pushing Rob to have a stronger voice in this process than he wanted or felt like he should have. I would be like, Are you sure you’re okay? Like, you okay, you know, like, this could happen, like, this other thing might not really take off the way I want it to, or I might not sell for as much money as we think. Or I’d be like, you know, if you’re not in and he’d be like, This is not my decision to make, right? And Neil, was I? Was I trying to I don’t, I don’t know. Was I? We always try to put on somebody else

52:04

through the mud with us. Look, it’s misery loves. Company is the best

Lisa Marker Robbins 52:08

example. He was always like, whoa, back off, right? Give an opinion here. But he would also say, like, Are you missing? Like, what you’ve just built for over a quarter of a century, like, right? I think you’re gonna be fine. Like, you know, like, look at yourself. Like, it’s like, this is okay. So, yeah, you need people around you. I think it can be different people in different roles.

Doug 52:33

Love it. Perfect. Great, great way to end this episode. I want you to share just one quick time how people what’s the best entry point for somebody to either reach you or connect with your information. So they can do that,

Lisa Marker Robbins 52:44

so you can email me, Lisa, Lisa at flourish coaching co.com and that’s our website as well. Flourish coaching co com, and if you want that free video, just the website slash, course we’ve got that free video that kind of explains, as much as things have changed these days, how it actually works. All

Doug 53:04

right, I’ll make sure I put a link to everything. I don’t know that I have the one for the course. So how? But right after we disconnect from this recording, I’ll make sure I put that in the in the show notes. I get that from you. So Lisa, thank you for sharing. It took a lot of extra time. I appreciate you sharing and indulging in my conversation. Of sometimes got a little personal, so I appreciate you taking Okay, take care of that. Thanks for being here on the show today. Thank you. Hey, nice guy community, never underestimate the power of nice again. Special. Thanks to Lisa marker Robbins all of her information, including access to her podcast, her website, the free video and her email will be right there in the show notes. Steve O’Brien, go ahead and take us out

Lisa Marker Robbins 53:42

of here. You Doug, thank you for joining me for this special anniversary episode with Doug and letting me share my story with you. I hope getting the know be better has shown you why I’m so passionate about helping teens and young adults find their path to a fulfilling future. If you’re feeling inspired to take the next step in supporting your kids career journey, I’ve created something special for you. Head over to flourish coaching co.com, forward slash video, which we’ve also linked to in the show notes, and watch my free on demand video, how to guide your team to choose the right major college and career without painting themselves into a corner, missing crucial deadlines or risking choices you both regret. This guide takes the core principles I’ve used to help 1000s of students and breaks them down into clear, actionable steps you can start using right away. As always, remember, with the right guidance, everything can be figured out. I’ll see you next week with another great episode of College and Career Clarity, where this time I’ll be back on the other side of the mic. You.