Anne Mahlum's Net Worth is $100M. Her Goal? Turn Past Pain Into Purpose and Power

We spoke to Anne Mahlum in this week's episode of Moneywise.

Anne is the founder of Solidcore, a chain of Pilates studios that she recently sold, netting her around $90 million. She previously founded the nonprofit Back on My Feet, which helps homeless individuals through running programs. 

Like all Moneywise episodes, Anne breaks down her net worth, income, portfolio, and monthly expenses and then I pick it all apart.

We also went deep on: how her difficult childhood shaped her drive, her experience taking money off the table through multiple private equity deals, and why she's actively working to increase her spending habits.

Below you'll find my summary of the episode along with the entire transcript.

And by the way...this podcast, the concept of it came from Hampton, a community I founded where CEOs and business owners come together in small groups of 8 to help each other grow. Hampton members range from people with newish startups doing $3M in revenue all the way up to publicly traded companies with hundreds of millions in revenue and thousands of employees. Because of Hampton, I get to see these private conversations about business, money, success, and life. I figured some of these private conversations should be public, which is why I started this podcast. If you're a CEO, founder, or business owner, check this out. New Moneywise episodes come out weekly.

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The Numbers

• Net Worth: ~$100 million (after selling Solidcore)
• Initial Investment: Put her entire savings of $175,000 into Solidcore
• First Year Revenue: $100,000 per month from first studio
• First Year Profit Margin: 40-60% profit margins per studio
• First Big Payday: Made over $1 million in personal income in 2015, just 2 years into the business
• Private Equity Deals:
  • First deal (2017): Raised $18 million, took $6 million off the table
  • Second deal (2021): Took another $9 million off the table
• Current Monthly Spending: $200,000-300,000 per month
• Portfolio Breakdown:
  • 33% in public equities (including $5+ million in Nvidia)
  • 15% in private investments
  • 20-22% in real estate ($22 million total)
  • 13-14% in hedge funds and private equity
  • 6-8% in bonds
  • 4-5% in private loans (12-15% returns)
  • 1-2% in Bitcoin
  • 1-2% in art
• Real Estate Holdings:
  • Primary residence: $12 million home
  • Miami Beach condo: $2 million
  • New York apartment (purchased 2018)
  • $14 million condo in Saint Regis (investment property)
  • Homes for family members in North Dakota

The Drive to Prove Herself: From North Dakota to $90 Million

Growing up in North Dakota in a modest home, Anne Mahlum developed an intense drive that would shape her future success. "I was trying desperately to get them to love me more than they loved my siblings," she explains about her childhood motivation. "I just sort of felt like I need to constantly outperform, outshine everybody to get people to accept and love me."

This drive manifested in extraordinary achievement from an early age. "I was the kid who graduated college in three years with two degrees and played varsity soccer, played varsity basketball, I was sport's editor, I took more credits in high school than anybody else."

Her parents had drastically different approaches to money that profoundly influenced her. "My dad really didn't love work. He sold insurance and always just kind of made enough for today," Anne explains. Meanwhile, her mother "literally is still saving her pennies for the diabolical day that will never happen. And she lives very much in scarcity."

Family trauma further complicated her relationship with money. When Anne was a teenager, her father's gambling addiction surfaced. "My dad took 50 grand we didn't have and gambled it away," leading to her parents' divorce. "I watched what money did to that relationship, and I just never wanted money to cause problems in my own life."

These early experiences didn't diminish her ambition but gave it purpose. "There is a ridiculous drive that comes from somewhere," Anne explains. "Whenever I invest and I'm talking to entrepreneurs, I never invest until I talk about this exact subject."

From Nonprofit to $90M Exit: Building Solidcore

At 27, Anne founded Back on My Feet, a nonprofit that helps homeless people through running programs. The organization quickly grew to a $6.5 million operation with chapters across the country. Though successful, Anne was conservatively saving her earnings. "I would be getting $10,000 to go speak here and there. I just banked all of that money. I put it away, and I knew at some point I would want it for something."

The turning point came when Anne discovered a Pilates-style workout in New York City. "The studio that I went to is called SLT, and there were ten machines in that particular location, and we were all paying $30 a machine. So that was $300 per class times ten classes. That's $3,000 a day." With quick mental math, she realized the business potential: "This thing is making $90,000 a month. This is insane."

Anne's bold move came next: "I was 100% in. I put my entire savings of $175,000 into starting Solidcore." When offered $75,000 for 30% of her yet-to-be-launched business, she declined. "If I take this money, all I'm doing is saying I doubt myself. I just knew I had to go all in, and if I wasn't comfortable going all in, I shouldn't do it at all."

The risk paid off immediately. "I made a profit in month one. This studio was doing 100K in its first month." With low overhead and strong demand, Solidcore's economics were exceptional. "Solid Core was easily doing 40 to 60% profit margins. We just didn't have a ton of staff."

By 2015, just two years after launching, Anne personally made over $1 million. "That's wild. $1 million in personal income after two years of business. That's insane. No one does that," I remarked during our conversation. Anne agreed: "I know, I know, it's not normal. Trust me. And that's why I kept opening so many of them. The business model was just so lucrative."

Taking Money Off The Table: The Strategic Exit

Unlike many entrepreneurs who delay gratification until a final exit, Anne strategically took money off the table through multiple private equity deals. "I took money off the table in every private equity deal I did," she explains. "The first private equity deal I did, I raised $18 million and I took six of that off the table."

This approach served multiple purposes. First, it allowed her to gradually adjust to wealth. "I needed to get comfortable with wealth, and I knew if I continued to push that off and all of a sudden got this massive check, I sort of felt like that was going to be complicated for me, for my friends, my family."

It also allowed her to maintain focus on building the company. "I never took money out of the company if I thought the company needed it to scale," she explains. By the time she reached 25 studios in four years, she was ready for a larger capital infusion. "I was sick and tired of opening 4 to 5 a year. I'm like, I know that I can open 20 to 30 of these a year. I just need more capital."

When private equity partners expressed concern about her taking money off the table, she was direct: "If you think I'm in this for $6 million, you're kidding yourself. I own pretty much 100% of the business right now. I'm giving away 30%. I'm going to take some money off the table. I am in this for the nine figure exit for myself."

This strategy culminated in the ultimate exit nine years after founding Solidcore, netting her around $90 million.

Managing Wealth: From Savings Account to Sophisticated Investor

Anne's approach to managing money has evolved dramatically from her early days when she kept her savings in a checking account. "I didn't know anything about that stuff back then. I'm pretty well versed now."

Today, she manages a highly diversified portfolio and takes an active approach to investments. "I am very well diversified. I have like 33% of my money in public equities, right? Stocks, ETFs, stuff like that." Despite conventional wisdom against individual stock picking, Anne takes calculated positions: "I own like over 5 million of Nvidia."

Her education around wealth management has been deliberate. "Obviously Rich dad, Poor dad. It's like the old school. Everybody needs to read that book. Tony Robbins books, you know, Money Master the Game." She emphasizes that financial education is widely available: "For 15 bucks or a library card, the stuff that you're using is the stuff that anyone can use."

Anne believes monitoring her investments regularly helps manage emotional reactions. "I look at my portfolio every day, so I get comfortable when it goes down, and I don't get overzealous when it goes up. A lot of times they tell you, oh, don't look at it. And I'm like, that's so stupid."

Her confidence as an investor has grown alongside her wealth. "I check my money in the market. I made over 400 grand in the market today," she mentions during our conversation. This growth mindset extends to the size of her investments: "I have a hard and fast rule that I won't do a minimum of 250 and I find myself constantly increasing that."

Learning to Spend: From Frugality to $300K Monthly Expenses

Perhaps most interestingly, Anne has consciously worked to increase her spending to match her wealth. "I have very big spending muscles now, and I worked on that because I thought, what a tragedy to have all of this money and act like I don't."

After her initial private equity deal in 2017, her spending remained modest. "I bought a piece of real estate in New York, which I still own, and I bought my dad a home back in Bismarck, North Dakota for like 300 grand." But she found herself hesitant to spend on many things. "I was the negotiating queen. I had to negotiate to get my business where it was, and like $10,000 really mattered."

Today, her approach is dramatically different, with monthly expenses of $200,000-300,000. Recent purchases include a Bentley for $280,000 and a $100,000+ trip to Wimbledon. "We are spending over 100K on this trip with our moms, business class, the best hotel. We got amazing seats at Wimbledon, and it's just like, spend it."

She directly challenges conventional wisdom about preserving principal: "I hate when people say, don't spend the principal. I'm like, when you have the amount of money that I have, that's just stupid advice." Influenced by the book "Die With Zero," she believes "it is just a tragedy to die with tens of millions of dollars."

This philosophy extends to generosity: "I've gifted my family hundreds of thousands of dollars. I've given millions to my employees."

From Achievement to Acceptance: The Evolution of Drive

Throughout our conversation, Anne reflected on how her motivations have evolved. "I'm working really hard to not associate achievement with love. It's been my biggest issue over my entire life."

Her early drive came from seeking validation: "Let me perform for you. Let me win, blow your wildest expectations for myself and for Back on My Feet and Solidcore. And you'll be so impressed that I will get your adoration. And I associated that with love for a really long time."

Today, Anne feels she's "70% of the way there" in separating achievement from self-worth. "I can seriously sit here in front of you today and tell you that I don't feel like I have anything to prove to anybody anymore."

Her focus has shifted to helping others find their own path to success. "I truly believe the reason I have been successful is I've always focused on what my advantages are," she explains. "Everybody has a special set of circumstances, disadvantages and advantages, and your mission in life is to figure out what yours is and put yourself in a position to win."

This perspective reflects her journey from seeking external validation to finding inner confidence—a transformation as significant as her financial success.

Other Key Quotes

"If I take this money, all I'm doing is saying I doubt myself. And if I do that, I'm going to continue. When things get hard, I'm going to continue to fill up that doubt jar, and maybe I won't actually push through if things get hard enough."

"I was cash flow positive within the first month. And as soon as I saw that I was ready to sign my second lease."

"I never took money out of the company if I thought the company needed it to scale. But, you know, I grew to 25 studios in four years by myself, with no private equity money and without a ton of sophisticated talent."

"People will tell you this about me that like no matter what, Anne spins it as a win. And I think I just got used to doing that because you and I could have the exact same experience, Sam. And you may be like, today was awful, and I will figure out a way to be like, today was amazing and incredible."

"I always tell people that I'm like, guys, if you aren't willing to invest any time with podcasts or reading and learning about money like you deserve to be broke, it's fully, publicly available for anybody to educate themselves on."

"I hate when people say, don't spend the principal. I'm like, when you have the amount of money that I that's just stupid advice. This is why money advice is not a panacea across the board."

"I look at my portfolio everyday, so I get comfortable when it goes down, and I don't get overzealous when it goes up. A lot of times they tell you, oh, don't look at it. And I'm like, that's so stupid."

"I think it is just a tragedy to die with tens of millions of dollars. I've gifted my family hundreds of thousands of dollars. I've given millions to my employees."

"I'm working really hard to not associate achievement with love. It's been my biggest issue over my entire life. I feel like I'm 70% of the way there."

Links You Might Like

• Solidcore - The fitness company Anne founded
• Back on My Feet - The nonprofit Anne founded at age 27
• Die With Zero - Book mentioned by Anne about spending wealth during your lifetime
• Money Master the Game - Tony Robbins book Anne recommends for financial education
• Rich Dad Poor Dad - Book Anne recommends for money mindset

Full Transcript

[00:00:06] Anne Mahlum: I said, if I take this money, all I'm doing is saying I doubt myself. I just knew I had to go all in and if I wasn't comfortable going all in, I shouldn't do it at all.

[00:00:15] Sam Parr: Anne Malhum is one of the most confident people I have ever met and is the founder of Solidcore. Solidcore is a chain of Pilates studios and she recently sold it, netting her around $90 million. In this episode, she's gonna break down where the money's invested, how much she's spending each month, but where her confidence comes from. And this, this is the part that I find most interesting. And I find it interesting because she has so much of it. And her drive to always learn more and to be better has resulted in some ridiculous success in her life.

[00:00:47] Anne Mahlum: I was cash flow positive within the first month, and as soon as I saw that, I was ready to sign my second lease.

[00:00:55] Sam Parr: But that well of inspiration for her. It hasn't always come from a healthy place.

[00:00:59] Anne Mahlum: I was trying desperately to get them to love me more than they loved my siblings.

[00:01:05] However, we made it my love. Oh honey, look how we made it this far.

[00:01:12] Sam Parr: I'm Sam Parr and this is Moneywise. You can scroll through Instagram for just 30s, and you're gonna see a ton of information out there on how to get rich, but you're not going to see a lot of stuff out there that teaches you how to handle life after you've made some money. I'm the co-founder of Hampton. You can check it out at join Hampton dotcom. We're a community of CEOs and business owners. Our members range from people who have newish startups doing just $2 million in revenue, all the way up to publicly traded companies that have hundreds of millions in revenue and thousands of employees. And because of Hampton, I'm able to see all these private conversations about business, about money, about success, about life. And I think some of these private conversations should be public. Hence this podcast. Money wise, with money wise, we talk to high net worth people, and we get them to be radically transparent about their portfolio, their net worth, their income and their monthly expenses. And more importantly, we get them to talk all about the problems and also some of the great things that come with being successful and how they're solving some of those problems.

[00:02:06] Anne Mahlum: And I hate when people say, don't spend the principal. I'm like, when you have the amount of money that I that's just stupid advice.

[00:02:10] Sam Parr: And of course, if you're the CEO of a startup, I have to give a plug for Hampton. Join Hampton. Com members are put into a group of eight people who have similar sizes and types of business, and then they also have access to thousands of other members, as well as hundreds of events that we host throughout the year. Look, if you've listened to the show, you'll know that we usually start by talking about someone's financial environment that the people grew up in. That's because when you're a kid, the way that adults around you treat money, it has a huge impact on your choices and attitude as you grow. But for Anne, it wasn't really as clear cut. Her parents had drastically different views on money, and it all starts in North Dakota.

[00:02:49] Anne Mahlum: I remember I was driving around and like looking at all the houses that were bigger than ours. We definitely had like the smallest house. My mom still lives in that house. It was pretty typical of a midwestern upbringing, for sure. I mean, when I was a kid there, things have changed. But we didn't lock our doors at night, left keys in the car. I walked to school. Tons of kids around, you know, backyard. It was pretty decent and I loved I loved that I had my upbringing there. I was very sporty, did every sport you could think of, and there was just room to roam.

[00:03:18] Sam Parr: What did your father do for work?

[00:03:20] Anne Mahlum: My dad really didn't love work. He sold insurance and he always just kind of made enough for today. And that's still how he operates. It's just like, if I have enough for today, I'll worry about tomorrow. Tomorrow.

[00:03:33] Sam Parr: Which, you know, maybe some people might say that's a bad thing, but that's kind of cool. You're not always seeking other stuff. He's probably happy, maybe.

[00:03:39] Anne Mahlum: I mean, my dad is the happiest man on the planet. And I always said, I think a lot of people could use a lot more of his mentality. And my, my husband and I joke that, like, there's always these adages that are so at odds with one another. It's like, save for tomorrow, but live for today and like, don't let life pass you by. But like, you know, make sure you have enough pennies away for a rainy day. It's just like all these things that are so contradictory of one another. And my mom and dad, my mom literally is still saving her pennies for the diabolical day that will never happen. And she lives very much in scarcity. And my dad just like lives entirely for today. He's not going to have any delayed gratification.

[00:04:21] Sam Parr: So then, as you're getting in your 20s, which side of the spectrum did you fall on? Like your father and mother?

[00:04:26] Anne Mahlum: I didn't have a lot of money back then, but I wasn't so worried about money when my mom worries about money a lot. So I still think I was more in my dad's camp of like, I can pay my bills today. I'm not like crazy amounts in debt. It just didn't cause that much stress for me. Even though I didn't. I didn't have a lot of it.

[00:04:46] Sam Parr: So money was never really a big driver for an it was obviously a nice result from her efforts, but it was never really the main reason why she did anything. So if it wasn't pursuing wealth, where did her drive come from?

[00:04:58] Anne Mahlum: Whenever I invest and I'm talking to entrepreneurs, I never invest until I talk about this exact subject because there is a ridiculous drive that comes from somewhere. And I didn't have parents who pushed me in any way in my life, like, at all. And I was the kid who graduated college in three years with two degrees and played varsity soccer, played varsity basketball. I was my sports editor. I took more credits in high school than anybody else. I was trying desperately to get them to love me more than they loved my siblings. And to my dismay, and no matter how hard I tried, it didn't seem to work. They, like, loved all of us the same, and I was very annoyed by that. So I just sort of felt like, oh, I need to work harder. Like I need to constantly outperform, outshine everybody to get people to accept and love me and be impressed by me. And that's, I think, where a lot of my drive came from. I had a lot to prove.

[00:05:56] Sam Parr: What exactly she would do with that drive of hers. It wasn't exactly clear until she was in her mid 20s. But before we get to that, I want you to hear the story about her dad. I love it.

[00:06:05] Anne Mahlum: My dad's been clean and sober for about 39 years now, so before I was five years old, he went into, um, in person recovery place for 30 days. And that seemed to do the trick for him. But as most addictions do, they manifest in other areas. And my dad had gambling addiction that surfaced when I was a teenager that I think changed the direction of my life. As I mentioned, my mom's relationship with money, right? She's a saver. She didn't make a lot of money. She was a schoolteacher. So like, every dollar had a plan and my dad took 50 grand. We didn't have and gambled it away. And for her, that was just like the ultimate Achilles heel. Like it was just like, I can't be with the man who would do that. And I didn't go through my dad's addictions, you know, I never saw him drink and do drugs, but my mom did. And she went through that one time before, and it was just like, I can't do this again. And so for ten years, I was pretty angry with my mom for taking my dad away. I blamed her a lot for my dad's addictions, which was unfair, but it was the reality.

[00:07:04] Sam Parr: It's unfair. I've done the same thing though. It's unfair, but it's also it takes two to tango. Sometimes it's a very challenging thing. And then when you have a kid, maybe you're like, yeah, you got to keep it together. For them. It's a very challenging situation.

[00:07:14] Anne Mahlum: Totally. And I can look back. And now that I'm a grown woman and married and I could never be married to my father, I love him as my dad. But like, I understand why he wasn't the world's greatest husband. And so for ten years, I had all that anger and everything walking around with me. And I also think that I watched what money did to that relationship, and I just never wanted money to cause problems in my own life. It tore my family apart and my parents got divorced because of it. At least that's the story that I saw.

[00:07:42] Sam Parr: Addiction takes a lot out of people and carried the loss from her family life with her for a decade until one day, her experience inspired her to give back.

[00:07:52] Anne Mahlum: I mean, I was so desperate for purpose and fulfillment. I looked underneath every proverbial rock, like when I was 12 years old, before this stuff happened with my dad, you know, I had this box underneath my bed, and this box had, like, my husband in there, what he was going to look like. It had my house. It had my kitchen. Like I had it all figured out and planned. When that happened with my parents and my dad, I was like, oh, I'm going to go get these things, and that's what's going to make my life make sense. So I started down that path and thought, that's what I wanted. And then when I was 24, I realized I actually didn't want any of that. I don't know if I want to get married. I'm not sure I want to have kids felt completely lost. And so I was just desperate for some sort of fulfillment and purpose. I had literally walked and ran by this homeless shelter hundreds of times. I had to pass it on my way to work, and it took me two years to have my light bulb moment of, oh my gosh, why do I get to be the runner? And these guys get to be the homeless guys on the corner? Like, why can't we all be runners? And so when I felt that and frankly, Sam, when my life started to make sense, like you mentioned, all my dad's addictions and the pain and suffering that, that that ensued from that to feel like I could take that and then help a bunch of people who reminded me of my dad, I sort of felt like I got to heal myself. I mean, it was a very emotional experience for me.

[00:09:23] Sam Parr: Now, the thing about addiction is that just because you quit, whatever it is you're addicted to, that trait doesn't exactly go away. It more so gets shifted to something new. A really simple example is when I gave up alcohol after I had some issues, I immediately got addicted to sugar, which is obviously a better alternative, but that addiction doesn't exactly go away. But Anne's dad channeled his behaviors into something positive, and that's what her nonprofit, Back on My Feet is all about.

[00:09:47] Anne Mahlum: Now, my dad fishes more than any other man on the planet, like literally hours every day. And it's got to go somewhere. And that was, of course, you know, the premise for Back on My Feet, too, of like, if I could just take these guys as addictions and put it into something that's going to be more beneficial to them, why not running? It's this endless, you can always do more. You're chasing this high like it's just the perfect outlet for people with addiction.

[00:10:12] Sam Parr: So at age 27 and founded back on my feet. I'm gonna contradict myself a bit here. Recently I talked about luck, and I said that I think luck is probably the biggest reason why some people are successful now. I think that's true in most cases and might be one of the few examples where that isn't the case, because in Ant's case, her confidence in her ability to assess a situation, make a plan and follow through, it played such a huge role in her success, and that's going to become evident when I explain the story about how she started Solid Core back on my feet started as a good idea and a small running club, but it was her passion and dedication that made it what it is today.

[00:10:55] Anne Mahlum: Over the course of a few weeks, Sam, it was like I began to see these guys light up about what they were doing and who they were becoming. Because you think about homelessness and the stereotypes that surround it, right? You're lazy. You're probably a drug addict. You definitely maybe are dangerous. Um, you don't have any drive. And then you think about somebody who runs three days a week at six inches the morning. That person is disciplined, focused, reliable, responsible, ambitious. You know, it's very positive association. And so these guys started to think of themselves as a runner, as an athlete, as a teammate, as responsible, as disciplined. And when you can change somebody's identity. It was the vision that like, we can then make real change in their life because they'll want more from themselves, they'll expect more, and we're able to then connect them to jobs through our experience, through back on my feet of them showing up on time three days a week, their attitude and their hard work. So I raised money by finding corporations who had executives who ran, and it was like a thousand batting average. Like if I could just find the executives at companies who ran, they understood what I was doing. They were related to my story, and I also had a specific ask for them. I never went into a meeting with being like, oh, you know, I would just love if you would consider donating money to us. It was like, I'm coming in and asking for whatever it was. If I was raising sponsorship or getting sponsorship for an event I was doing or a campaign I was doing, it was a very specific ask and I also never left there without asking for three connections to other people who were runners and executives. And that's really how the organization grew so quickly across the country. I mean, we opened 12 chapters in four and a half years, all locally funded in the cities that we opened in.

[00:12:48] Sam Parr: For six and a half years and continued to run and grow back on my feet. And all this time she's being super conservative with her money and saving it. But for what? She didn't exactly know.

[00:12:58] Anne Mahlum: So at the end of Back on My Feet, it was like a $6.5 million organization on an annual basis. So my salary was like $175,000 at the end of that, which was kind of the going rate for an executive of a nonprofit of that size. And then I started speaking. Sam and I started charging for it. So I would be like getting $10,000 to go speak here and there and doing that, you know, 4 or 5 times a year. I just banked all of that money. I just put it away, and I knew at some point I wanted I would want it for something. And I didn't know what that something was going to be, but I just didn't really spend beyond my means. I put it away and really grateful that I did that.

[00:13:41] Sam Parr: What did you do with your money? Did you put it in just a Vanguard total index fund or...

[00:13:47] Anne Mahlum: No, I didn't know. Yeah, I didn't know anything about that stuff back then. I'm pretty well versed now, but it was just in a checking and savings account.

[00:13:53] Sam Parr: And saved $175,000. This way. And what's wild is she kept it all in just a regular savings account. But don't worry, her investing and saving style is way different nowadays, and that's something we're going to hear about later. For now, let's talk about what she did with that money.

[00:14:07] Anne Mahlum: When I went back to New York, which is where I was living temporarily when I was launching the Back of my feet chapter there, the studio that I went to is called SLT, and there was ten machines in that particular location, and we were all paying $30 a machine. So that was $300 per class times ten classes. That's $3,000 a day. You know, I'm like, this thing is making nine $90,000 a month. You know, I'm like, this is insane. And there's one person in here. Teaching doesn't seem to be labor intensive. So I was like, this is like a cash cow. Like, this is not only my new favorite workout that I feel very I mean, I was bringing everybody that I knew because I wanted them to, to know there's a different way to do this, but I'm like, this is a killer business. Nobody's really built a big brand around it. That's what my talents and skill sets lend themselves to. So I sort of felt like I was the perfect person to create my own company and build this thing around, because the company needed my skill sets. It was like a perfect match.

[00:15:12] Sam Parr: You had $175,000 saved. Do you put all of that into a business account?

[00:15:16] Anne Mahlum: Yes, yes. I was 100% in and there was.

[00:15:20] Sam Parr: Really 100% of your of your money.

[00:15:22] Anne Mahlum: I mean, I obviously had to pay rent and stuff, so I needed to make sure that I had enough to pay rent over the next couple of months. But I was really nervous and I got an offer from a back on my feet board member who was an executive, and I was just kind of walking through my doubts. And he's like, you know, and listen, I'll, you know, I saw what you did at Back on My Feet. You raised money for a very difficult cause, and you've got all these executives and people to give you money. Like you're super convincing. I'll give you $75,000 for 30%, so you don't have to use all of your money. And I was like, I don't have a studio yet. I just had an idea and a concept. And back then that was a lot of money, Sam. Like, I was like, maybe that's actually smart. I should maybe consider that. And then once I really thought, like.

[00:16:03] Sam Parr: I would have gotten a deal. Like I would have gotten a deal.

[00:16:05] Anne Mahlum: It would have been. But so the reason I didn't do it was I said, if I take this money, all I'm doing is saying I doubt myself. And if I do that, I'm going to continue. When things get hard, I'm going to continue to fill up that doubt jar, and maybe I won't actually push through if things get hard enough. Like I just knew I had to go all in, and if I wasn't comfortable going all in, I shouldn't do it at all.

[00:16:29] Sam Parr: Did you make a profit in year one?

[00:16:30] Anne Mahlum: I made a profit in month one. This studio was doing 100 K in its first month and the expenses were very low. Like we didn't have to pay rent right away because we got rent abatement, so call it. My expenses were 10 to 20 grand in that first month, and...

[00:16:47] Sam Parr: The start up costs were what ?

[00:16:48] Anne Mahlum: Start up costs pretty much took all 175, you know, call it within ten grand of that for me to pay the contractors, I had to put a $35,000 security deposit down and to buy the machines, which I financed. Like I just made it work, but it was pretty much all of it. And fortunately I was cash flow positive within the first month. And as soon as I saw that I was ready to sign my second lease, I had my second studio open in February.

[00:17:16] Sam Parr: That's still insane. Four months later. That's a shitload of money to go all in 100% of your net worth. All in. That's scary.

[00:17:24] Anne Mahlum: Yeah, but I'm a little weird that way. Like you're also talking to somebody who left. I started back on my feet with no money, literally nothing. I had a job at Comcast, a six figure job back in 2007, and I never worked in the corporate world before. And so I had had the evidence that I had bet on myself enough times to know that, like, I can do this.

[00:17:49] Sam Parr: What do you think your monthly expenses were at that time?

[00:17:51] Anne Mahlum: Oh my gosh, very, very low. Like I'm the kind of entrepreneur when I'm really in it. Like I'm just in it and I'm not really doing much else. I lived, ate and breathed back on my feet and Solidcore when I was doing it. I didn't want to be working on anything else. I didn't need a break from it. So my whole social life was hanging out with the members or the volunteers or people who worked at backgammon. I just didn't have many expenses, maybe 2 to 3 grand a month.

[00:18:28] Sam Parr: To recap and left her role at back of my feet, turn down $75,000 and then invested her entire net worth into her new business, and she felt confident about it the entire time. And that's what I love, that investment. It obviously paid off huge when she sold solid core for hundreds of millions of dollars. But before we get to that, if you listen to this podcast, you know, I love timelines and I love numbers. And I asked her to break down the company's financials each year that the company grew. We're going to hear that in a minute after this quick ad break. How old was the company Solidcore when you sold it? Ten years or 11 years old?

[00:19:03] Anne Mahlum: Nine. A little over nine years.

[00:19:04] Sam Parr: Do you remember, like, your first five years of revenue?

[00:19:07] Anne Mahlum: So the studio's on average, we're doing between 750 and $1 million a year, and that was pretty consistent. Yeah, pretty consistent across the board.

[00:19:19] Sam Parr: And so if it does a million in revenue, what does each studio do in profit.

[00:19:23] Anne Mahlum: Obviously things have grown and changed and we've even got more efficient. But back then Solid Core was easily doing 40 to 60% profit margins. We just didn't have a ton of staff. The overhead was so low. There was literally we didn't have front desk staff. When you were in a solid core. There was one coach for the 10 to 13 people that were taking class, and the coach got paid based off of the revenue they produced per class. So it was all like working together.

[00:19:48] Sam Parr: It's that gross margin or like net margin. So on a million in revenue, the the HQ business like you didn't have HQ staff or whatever it was. It was.

[00:19:56] Anne Mahlum: Yeah, I hired staff. I hired my first staff member seven, eight months later that I put on salary. And then obviously I had like four staff by the end of the first year. So I can tell you this solid core has the best economics today out of any fitness company, any fitness company.

[00:20:13] Sam Parr: So you're able to pay yourself as you went

[00:20:16] Anne Mahlum: Oh yeah. And I you know, I was an S Corp back then or I guess even when we sold obviously that my portion always stayed in an escort, but I just took out profits. I took out distributions because I was 100% owner, so I paid myself a respectable salary, I guess, for what? I had to be qualified as an S Corp. I think it was like 5060 grand a year, and then any other additional money that I wanted to take out of the company I just took as distribution.

[00:20:40] Sam Parr: Do you remember the first year that you made over $1 million for yourself?

[00:20:43] Anne Mahlum: Yeah, it's 2015.

[00:20:45] Sam Parr: That's wild. $1 million in personal income after two years of business. That's insane. No one does that.

[00:20:50] Anne Mahlum: I know, I know, it's not. It's not normal. Trust me. And that's why I kept opening so many of them. The business model was just so lucrative.

[00:20:58] Sam Parr: Did your Inc. personal income continue to scale as the business scaled, or did your cost structure increase and you weren't able to?

[00:21:06] Anne Mahlum: No, it stayed pretty consistent. I never took money out of the company if I thought the company needed it to scale. But, you know, I grew to 25 studios in four years by myself, with no private equity money and without a ton of sophisticated talent. So I never took money out of the company that I felt the company could use to scale. I never sacrificed. I never did that with private equity either. So once we got to 25 studios, I was sick and tired of opening 4 to 5 a year. I'm like, I know that I can open 20 to 30 of these a year. I just need more capital and I need a bigger, more talented team to help me do that.

[00:21:42] Sam Parr: So, um, my last company, The Hustle, I ended up selling it, so I took a little bit of seed money, but I owned most of the company. And the first year I paid myself 2000 a month. So like 24 grand a year. The second year, I think I paid myself something like that, but it could have been like $30,000 the third year. I think it was like 100 or 80,000. And then the last year was like 500,000. And one of the reasons why I sold was because I didn't have a significant amount of money. Like, I was very much like your mother, where I was like, save everything in case of a rainy day. And that made me very defensive and it made me sell early, whereas now the business would be significantly larger. I think what you did of paying yourself a significant sum, I think that that actually makes you a better entrepreneur. Do you think that made you have more of a long term vision, because you were kind of able to get wealthy along the way?

[00:22:35] Anne Mahlum: Yeah. And I'll tell you the strategy that really worked for me. So I took money off the table in every private equity deal I did. I was only planning to raise private equity once and then selling, and that would have happened if Covid didn't get in the way. So the first private equity deal I did, I raised $18 million and I took six of that off the table. It was pretty much four years to the date.

[00:22:54] Sam Parr: Wow. That's great. Yeah.

[00:22:55] Anne Mahlum: So we had geographic concept diversity. So we were in Atlanta, Philly, DC, Maryland and North Dakota. And I think one other place. So I was showing that this thing works in a ton of different markets and geographies, which is what private equity really likes when you have brick and mortar retail, if you're only open in New York, you're going to get, you know, either no offers or massive discounts because you haven't shown proof of concept for the white space out there. So during that deal, you know, I just worked backwards. At some point between 16 and 17, I said, okay, I know the type of entrepreneur I am. I like the startup phase. I like the creative. In the beginning, I'm going to get this thing to 100 studios and like, my job is done and I want to sell. And I was really adamant that, like, that's the vision and that's what I'm driving toward. So when I took my first round of private equity, that's the story that I sold, that this is what I'm going to do and this is what I need money for. And then I just worked backwards on how much money the business needed to get to 100 studios, based off of the profit I could use from the studios to funnel into the new studios, and what I needed for team, and I needed call it 10 to $11 million. So to be safe, I took a cushion, I took 12, and I wanted to take 6 million off the table for myself and to go back to my theory of like, because I was never going to take any money and jeopardize the company's growth plan that I committed to, $6 million was feasible.

[00:24:17] Anne Mahlum: And so, as you might imagine, private equity at that time, a lot of people were like, we're not comfortable giving you any money. Like, we want you entire focus on this thing. And so I had to do some convincing and just say, listen, if you think I'm in this for $6 million, you're kidding yourself. I own pretty much 100% of the business right now. I'm giving away 30%. I'm going to take some money off the table like I am in this for the nine figure exit for myself. And if you don't believe that, then you shouldn't do this deal. So got Peterson Partners, who was my first, uh, private equity shop. Comfortable with that. And then the next round, which we can talk about later, I took another nine off the table. And the reason I felt that was so important for me is I still know my roots. I'm a girl from North Dakota. We didn't grow up with a lot. I needed to get comfortable with wealth, and I knew if I continued to push that off and all of a sudden got this massive check, I sort of felt like that was going to be complicated for me, for my friends, my family, the gradual wealth building. I started to educate myself on investing. I educated myself on, returns on how I felt about having this much money. What was I comfortable spending? Was I not kind of learning my money habits? I recommend that for anybody. I think when you go from struggling and putting every dollar into the business to getting a check for 90 to $100 million, I think it screws with you a little bit.

[00:25:47] Sam Parr: I've explained this on other podcasts, but I did not go this route. I grinded and I made close to nothing, something like two grand a month for a few years. And then when I sold my business, all of a sudden I made tens of millions of dollars. It was a crazy feeling. And I talked about this on the podcast and how much anxiety it gave me. And as I said before, I think that maybe if I were paying myself better along the way, which I certainly, by the way, could have afforded it would have allowed me to run the company longer or not sell so early, and I probably would have made a lot more money, and I imagine I would have had a lot less stress along the way. And I think that just putting all of your money back into the business and barely paying yourself, I think that is an overly romanticized idea. It definitely makes for a great story, but in reality, I think it causes unnecessary stress and causes us to make silly decisions by taking money off the table incrementally. I think Anne was able to gradually work through some of the early hesitations about money and able to learn a lot. And also, she probably didn't make a lot of silly decisions, like selling her business way too early.

[00:26:49] Anne Mahlum: I learned when I got the 6 million, I didn't really want to do anything with it. I purchased real estate, but I knew that was a depreciating asset and I've done pretty well in that space. But the rest of the money, like where I wanted to spend it, I thought I was going to want to spend it more, and I do spend a lot more now. I kind of continued to delay the gratification it served as this nest egg, this safety, security, emotional nest egg. For me, the first two rounds that I did when I, you know, kind of had 15 to $17 million in 2017. Then I again raised again in 2021. And then the thing that I sort of always feel like I knew that people talked about is how much money your money makes when you just let it multiply. And I found that super fascinating and realized, oh, that's the ultimate like flex with money, you know, like sitting with you here today. Like I check my portfolio a lot and I check my money in the market. I made over 400 grand in the market today. Like that's very cool. Obviously there are days when my account goes down, but like, it's just awesome that I get to spend time doing whatever I want at the degree that I am doing now, with the amount of money I have invested and how that's just going to continue to grow.

[00:28:03] Sam Parr: So many people, myself included, many of my family members behave the way that you used to behave, or they keep it in the checking account and it's insane where it's like you could start really low at like a high yield savings account. You could go a little bit higher on the risk of bonds, and then you can go a little bit higher of just like the S&P 500. Then you can go a little bit higher of like doing some of your own deals. But it's amazing that people don't necessarily trust it and they don't understand that like 8% a year returns. That shit adds up fast.

[00:28:31] Anne Mahlum: Yeah, totally. And everybody, like, even my husband, he was taught because she was probably taught that like, don't put your money in the market unless you're prepared to lose it all. And most people have such a when you talk to people about like, you know, your money can make money, it's like, oh, you're a snake oil salesman. Like everybody is so distrusting of how easy it is to make money. It's like you need to work hard, and the only way to make money is through a paycheck. And like, I find it fascinating how much fear there is in people putting money into the market or investing. They think it's a scam.

[00:29:08] Sam Parr: What do you invest in now, like when you look at your portfolio? If it's a pie chart, what do you like to do?

[00:29:14] Anne Mahlum: I am very well diversified. I also, I mean, I can't tell you how many books, podcasts, everything, even your podcast. Sam. It's been super helpful for me as I've now created a lot of wealth for myself and just wanting to educate. So I have like 33% of my money in public equities, right? Stocks, ETFs, stuff like that.

[00:29:32] Sam Parr: Do you buy individual stocks?

[00:29:34] Anne Mahlum: Yes I do, I know a lot of people on your podcast don't, but I do.

[00:29:37] Sam Parr: Yeah, I think you're insane for doing that. But I respect that some people are actually good at it.

[00:29:41] Anne Mahlum: Yeah. And I love my advisor. And frankly I do read and do a lot of research on it. And I'm buying companies where I feel really confident in the vision, and I feel confident in what the earnings per share is like. This is not like a okay, do this, do that. I got into Nvidia last April and like that's turned out really, really well for me. And my portfolio is up, you know 20 plus percent since last April. Like it's I've outdone the S&P by 5 or 6%. And I also from an expectation standpoint some people again, money is an emotional thing. So I'm not telling people to take every emotion out of it. But I look at my portfolio every day, so I get comfortable when it goes down, and I don't get overzealous when it goes up. And a lot of times they tell you, oh, don't look at it. And I'm like, that's so stupid. I think that's horrible advice because I want to know that I don't have an emotional reaction when the market goes down. You know, when my account goes down 500 grand, I'm like, it's fine. That's what it's supposed to do. It's been doing that since the beginning of time, when the market, it's fine and it's gotten me more comfortable with actually making bigger bets, strategically calculated bets, and putting more, more money in. So yes, I have 33% in public equities. I've got like 15% in private investments that I've done 20 to 22% in real estate.

[00:31:02] Sam Parr: Is that real estate, cash flowing real estate or is it your primary residence?

[00:31:05] Anne Mahlum: Yeah. It's not cash flowing real estate. So I'll tell you again, and I've done really well in real estate and I've done cash flow real estate in the past. But for where we are, like we have a place in Miami, our primary house, this is public and I have no problem talking about. We bought this house for $12 million.

[00:31:22] Sam Parr: I saw that article. I can't believe that that was public. I'm shocked that people that you're okay with that.

[00:31:28] Anne Mahlum: I talk about money all the time because no, like that is how people learn. And if everybody keeps all of these things, you know, secret. And I don't want to tell, I'm just like, I don't really care. Like, I want people to understand where I'm putting my money. And when I put money in certain things that maybe don't work out. Like that's how we learn to educate. So I bought this. We bought a condo in Miami Beach. We got a crazy deal on it. It was in probate, fully furnished, 2 million bucks. We use it all the time when we go play volleyball. And I have a place in New York that I bought back in 2018, which we also use. And I'm there for work, you know, quite often. And then I bought my dad a house back in 2015. He still lives there. That's pretty much paid off. And then I bought a house that my brother and his wife and the kids live in back in Bismarck, and it's sort of part of my gifting is that real estate. And then I just put down a deposit on a $14 million condo in Sunny Isles called the Saint Regis. That is an investment. I will sell that over. It's not it doesn't finish till 2029, and at some point over from now until then, before the 50% of the payment is due, I will sell that property.

[00:32:35] Sam Parr: And so does that mean something like $25 million in real estate?

[00:32:39] Anne Mahlum: Yes it. I have about $22 million in real estate.

[00:32:44] Sam Parr: So you're at 33% plus 15% plus 20%. So that's 55 or 53 plus 15. I can't do that math. That's 68.

[00:32:52] Anne Mahlum: So yeah. So between hedge funds and private equity I have another call it 1314. And then I have 6 to 8% in bonds. I do private loans to people for 12 to 15% for their companies, and that's about 4 to 5%. I've got a little bit of Bitcoin, probably like 1 to 2%, and then like a percent or two of art that get me where I need to be, probably right around there.

[00:33:20] Sam Parr: I often preach simplicity when it comes to investing, which for most people just means buying index funds and bonds. But as we've learned, it's not exactly a typical person. I've talked a ton about Ann's confidence, and I think it's important here to explain why it carries her. The fact is, her confidence it exists is because she is so awesome at her ability to learn and improve fast. She talked about always educating herself, constantly challenging herself, putting herself in positions where failure is not an option, and more importantly, always following through. Having confidence in your current ability or current project that you're working on, that's one thing great are the ones who are able to understand that improvement is something that always needs to happen, even with her investments. Yes, she's throwing her money into a lot of things, but she's heavily involved in understanding the market and is always learning. And so my advice to you listening as well as honestly to myself, is even if you've had a little bit of success into one thing, you never have to stop learning, and you always have to have that beginner's mindset when approaching something new. Or to say it another way, I think your confidence always needs to be earned. And that, my friend, is why Anne has earned the right to say things like this.

[00:34:30] Anne Mahlum: I really love my financial advisor, but I definitely call the shots and I'll tell you about spending. Also, Sam, like when you have like again, this is public. I have close to $100 million. I have learned that like having to spend more even in invest more. You know, like before I was like, okay, I'll put like 25 grand in your company. Well, even if you ten x that for me, that's like two. It doesn't matter.

[00:34:52] Sam Parr: It doesn't matter the needle.

[00:34:53] Anne Mahlum: So I have a hard and fast rule that if I won't do a minimum of 250 and I find myself constantly increasing that, like I just put a $1.5 million into a private equity fund. I've started to say, okay, I need to put 500 K if I don't feel the confidence in something for 500 K, then I shouldn't do it at all. So I kind of feel that way about stocks. Like, I usually won't throw 2550 grand at a stock. Like I just think that's stupid. I would rather put that in an ETF, but if I feel conviction and everything you know, for me feels like I'm comfortable, which, you know, I'm a lot in AI and tech space. I will put 2500, $1 million. I own like over 5 million of Nvidia.

[00:35:33] Sam Parr: You said education, emotions and spending. What did you consume to learn?

[00:35:38] Anne Mahlum: Obviously rich dad, poor dad. It's like the old school. Everybody needs to read that book. And it was amazing. Tony Robbins books, you know, Money Master the Game and there's New Wealth book. I listened to Dave Wolcott's podcast. I'm friends with people in the private equity space and obviously been on the receiving end of private equity, so I know the deals that they cut and it's very unless it goes to zero, right? These guys get their preferred return and they get first money out. So I really like private equity a lot from the podcast perspective. I do listen to your podcast. You didn't pay me to say that.

[00:36:11] Sam Parr: Which one? Moneywise?

[00:36:13] Anne Mahlum: I listen to both, but I like Moneywise.

[00:36:15] Sam Parr: Oh, nice. Better.

[00:36:15] Anne Mahlum: I feel like it's, you know, for where I am in my life. It's really great.

[00:36:19] Sam Parr: Thank you, I appreciate you. We, uh, particularly for people where you are of ultra high net worth. There's not a significant amount of resources out there. And so but I think it's cool that, like, so I read the Tony Robbins stuff, like I read this stuff when I was like in eighth grade all the way up to just starting my company. And I always find it pretty cool that for like 15 bucks or a library card, the stuff that you're using is the stuff that anyone can use. And I think that that is incredibly invigorating. I think that it's it feels awesome.

[00:36:47] Anne Mahlum: It does. And I always tell people that I'm like, guys, if you aren't willing to invest any time with podcasts or reading and learning about money like you deserve to be broke, it's fully, publicly available for anybody to educate themselves on. And I was completely broke and also knew nothing about money when I was 27, 28. Like people think, oh, I don't know anything. I'm like, well, you can still learn just because you don't know it now. And if you don't learn, it's the biggest disservice to yourself that you can do because you're not going to learn it in school, especially if you're not going, you know, into business. And, Sam, I got to tell you, like, I've got a few doctor friends, my doctor friends who make 500 K plus a year. They know nothing.

[00:37:26] Sam Parr: They don't know shit.

[00:37:27] Anne Mahlum: No one ever taught them about what to do with their money. They learn about medicine, running their own business. It's really wild. It's up to all of us to educate ourselves.

[00:37:35] Sam Parr: I've got a doctor friend who was like, you know, my son wants to go into business, but I just find it so risky. I mean, he maybe wants to go work at Facebook or in banking. It just seems way too risky. Can you talk to my son and maybe, like, let him know how risky this is? And I was like, that's not the reality. It's no more risky than I mean, you're just asking for a job. But it was just crazy that the gap between someone who is so smart and so high IQ and so skilled at a very specific thing, it doesn't translate over to understanding certain money things. The money things is, is another thing that you have to study, just like you would in operation or something like that.

[00:38:09] Anne Mahlum: Well, and we also have to be careful about just like our genetics gets passed down, or at least a portion of that. So does all behavior and mindset and belief systems. And I look at my parents and I'm like, why would I take money advice from people. You know, I'm really mindful about that. I'm like, I only want money for advice from people who've gone from nothing to figured out how to make a ton of money. Like, that's really interesting to me because it takes a lot of intelligence, a lot of learning, a lot of action, and we listen to people all the time who have no business talking about money.

[00:38:44] Sam Parr: Now it's time to talk about spending and has had a gradual evolution with her spending. When she first started making decent money back on my feet, she saved basically everything she had. And then when she started making a lot more money at Solid Core, even though she felt a little bit reserved with money, she slowly started working out that spending muscle. Now she's worth over $100 million, and she's had a lot of time to figure out her spending. Let's start back from her first deal when she took $6 million off the table.

[00:39:09] Anne Mahlum: Once I did the 2017 deal, I did two things. I bought a piece of real estate in New York, which I still own, and I bought my dad a home back in Bismarck, North Dakota for like 300 grand. Real estate is pretty cheap there. And so that's really the only things that I bought back then. Like everything else was just normal everyday spending. And I wasn't going on trips. I'm not one of these people who like love to travel. I actually love to build community. And you do that when you're in a place, whether I do it around beach volleyball now, like I like routine, I like the gym, like I don't want to be gallivanting around six months out of the year. It's just not my personality. So my spend when I'm building my company, like, just wasn't very big, Like I just delayed the gratification or the spending. Um, besides the real estate stuff and so on. The second deal that I did, which I took 9 million, about a house in the Dominican Republic, two months after for 3.6 million. And then I sold that 18 months later to Albert Pujols for 5.6 million. And I rented that out along the way. So it was a cash flowing property and then that was it. Like besides everyday stuff, like I just wasn't really spending and I didn't desire anything. So it's not like if I wanted something, I couldn't have done it, but I was just really focused on building the business. Obviously I would take friends on trips or pay for things. I always pay when we're out to dinner, like little things like that. But that doesn't cut into $15 million.

[00:40:40] Sam Parr: Today, her spending doesn't look anything like that. We're gonna get to that right after this short break and we're back. So what does an spending look like today?

[00:40:50] Anne Mahlum: I have very big spending muscles now, and I worked on that because I thought, what a what a tragedy to have all of this money and act like I don't. And I could feel it happening whether it was like, you know, we wanted to hire someone to help with the design of the house and handle all the deliveries and all this stuff and this this is a big house. It's a 10,000 square foot house. They want 100 grand, you know, and I wanted to, like, negotiate. And I'm like, okay, this is going to be a ton of work. I need to flex that muscle. I need to spend that. These guys are really good. I've got great references. Why am I trying to shave off like 10% to just say I saved 90 K? Because the frugal part of me in the beginning of my business, you know, I was the negotiating queen and I had to negotiate to get my business where it was, and like $10,000 really mattered. And so it was really evident to me that I was like, oh my God. Like, if I don't continue to elevate my spending, I'm going to be that person who people think is cheap.

[00:41:47] Anne Mahlum: And I hear people talk about those people that, like, have billions of dollars, you know, and will fight over the $500, like dinner bill. And I'm like, I'm not going to become that person. So I started spending I bought a Bentley, but that's like $280,000. That's honestly one of the one of the only things I have purchased that's a depreciating asset. Fortunately for me, I like appreciating assets, so I put a lot of money into them. But like, we're taking our Brett and I are going to London, um, going to Wimbledon and we are spending over 100 K on this trip with our moms business class, the best hotel. We got amazing seats at Wimbledon, and it's just like, spend it. This money is making so much money and we're not. And I hate when people say, don't spend the principal. I'm like, that's just when you have the amount of money that I. That's just stupid advice. This is why money advice is not a panacea across the board. It does depend on what your goals are, your lifestyle, how much money you have. I'm sure you've heard of the book Die with Zero. I love that mentality and book.

[00:42:47] Anne Mahlum: I think it is just a tragedy to die with tens of millions of dollars. I've gifted my family hundreds of thousands of dollars. I've given millions to my employees. I just think it's silly to wait till I'm 90 to 100 years old and then give money away to people who are my same age, where they're not going to be able to enjoy it. I just bought another $150,000 piece of art because I love it and it makes me happy and I'm and I can afford it. So I've continued to both on the investment side, level up what I'm investing in, and the same with my spending, um, muscle.

[00:43:21] Sam Parr: Your growth mindset inspires me. I mean, you're like the type of person that, like, reads something or learns something and understands like the technical part of it and then is bold enough to put it in action and then to trust the process. Do you know what I mean? Just like being an athlete, I guess, where it's like you run this many miles per week, you do that for two years, and at the end of it, the likelihood that you're gonna be able to run this time is hopefully good. You like trust that process, which I really appreciate. If I had to guess, I would imagine your monthly spend now is like 2 or 300,000 a month.

[00:43:51] Anne Mahlum: Yeah. And people think that's crazy. Obviously people like my friends who, like, spend 7 to 10 grand, you know, a month all in and it's like, what? And I'm like, well, why not? What good is all this money just sitting in me at my account? How boring.

[00:44:04] Sam Parr: Well, it is crazy in the sense of like, very few people are able to do that, but it's also not crazy. I mean, I mean, when I'm building my company, I'm like, well, like just it's normal that whatever I'm going to make this summer up 50% goes to salaries. So like, that's just a number to me. It's just 50% in the same way where it's like 4% of my net worth, I'm going to spend each year. But then when you actually like look at the numbers, you're like, yeah, that is insane. But like the math.

[00:44:28] Anne Mahlum: Maths. Yeah. And Sam, what I did with people just like think, oh my God, that's a lot. That's this. I have an entire sheet that shows my starting value. If it earns 10%, what's my ending balance and yearly gain through my entire life? From 40, I'm 43, so I turned 44 in November. You know, down to like when I'm 70 to 90 years old...

[00:44:49] Sam Parr: Do the exact same thing. What do you use for it?

[00:44:51] Anne Mahlum: Oh, I just use an Excel sheet just like.

[00:44:54] Sam Parr: You made your own.

[00:44:54] Anne Mahlum: Yeah, yeah, I just made the model. You know, it's like starting values this. Okay, let's just say I make 8%, 10%, 11%. There's no reason to be freaking out about any of these things because the money is there making money, and I'm not even spending, you know, my interest rate. Now, not to say that I won't spend my interest in principle, but like, I'm just not doing that right now.

[00:45:15] Sam Parr: I was using those calculators since I was 18 or 19 years old, and I probably have half of what you have. Maybe I'm still using it. You have two times net worth of what I have and you're still using it. Do you think it's interesting that we still use these calculators to make us feel more confident?

[00:45:35] Anne Mahlum: Oh, I would think that.

[00:45:36] Sam Parr: You think that your mindset would be different than maybe it is in reality.

[00:45:39] Anne Mahlum: It helps my mindset because when you're spending or when you're looking at things, it's I'm like, okay, this is an emotional reaction. Like, once I paid my tax bill this year, you know, I was like, ah, I was used to seeing this much. Now I have X. And like there was like a week period where I'm like, are we going to have enough? And I like went into this little like emotional spiral. And so putting this sheet together actually allowed my emotional response to be invalidated. And like, I'm worried about not having enough when that's completely erratic and just irrational. And the data shows me that. So I don't need to be worried about it. So it really honestly like I find it very helpful.

[00:46:23] Sam Parr: The story we're painting for Anne right now is one of incredible success. I don't want to sell that short and say that that isn't the case, but there's always more to it. Part of building your story and moving forward and constantly progressing is your mindset, and has always been confident in herself. However, on the other end of that, it can be discouraging when sometimes that leads to failure. But the difference, in my opinion, between the winners and the losers is how they react when things don't go their way and has never lost her confidence because she's never allowed misfortune to take her down.

[00:46:53] Anne Mahlum: People will tell you this about me that like no matter what, Ann spins it as a win. And I think I just got used to doing that because you and I could have the exact same experience, Sam. And you may be like, today was awful, and I will figure out a way to be like, today was amazing and incredible. Whether it was, you know, I learned a ton or I don't know what, but like, I just refuse to look at life any other way. Like, I really can't think about when I've had a bad day. Like. And it doesn't mean that somebody else wouldn't. I just literally don't allow myself. Because if I allow myself to feel that way, then I feel like I have another problem. I've always been overly optimistic. I've always had an inflated sense of my capabilities and self, which is a good quality and entrepreneur. I've always thought I could figure it out. It doesn't mean like when I was 24 to 26, when I was really, I think, lonely and searching and all of those things I still like didn't have bad days. It was just like, I've got to figure this thing out. Like I can feel it. I know I'm on the brink of something, and I know that, like, we want to sort of hear ups and downs. I've had two failed engagements that didn't go through. I literally was in a traumatic jet ski. Like there's been things that have happened to me, don't get me wrong, but I just refuse to ever look at those things and let them bring me down. I'm always going to rise.

[00:48:19] Sam Parr: At the beginning of the story, we learned that her drive mainly came from always wanting more love and more affection. But because she's always worked on herself, I think that's currently changed for her.

[00:48:29] Anne Mahlum: It's definitely way better. This is why I think it's so important to have so many chapters in our life. Leaving back on my feet something that provided me with an unbelievable amount of fulfillment for my life and reason and purpose. People were like, why are you leaving? Like, you get to help all these people. And like, I was like small-time famous, like I was on every news outlet, like CNN hero, like I was getting a ton of attention for this thing. But I sort of felt if I don't leave it and go do something else, I'm never going to grow. And how can I tell my members my back and my feet, guys, to grow if I'm not willing to? And the same was true of solid core. So when I started Solid Core, you bet your ass I had something to prove. I didn't want people to think I was a one hit wonder or got lucky with Back on My Feet, or like just the story of Back on My Feet. I wanted to prove that I was smart, capable and an unbelievable like entrepreneur. I really, like, found my identity in that. That's why money along the way became a trophy, right? Money to an entrepreneur is just a trophy of I did a really good job. People paid what valuation for solid core and wrote me a check for over my time there for $100 million.

[00:49:44] Anne Mahlum: Like, thank you very much. I have learned over those years and that just didn't come through my businesses. Having two failed engagements, I had my heart broken for the first time when I was 35. I had to get into therapy and do a lot of that difficult work, which I just was never really willing to do until I was in so much pain that I had to. So I can seriously sit here in front of you today and tell you that I don't feel like I have anything to prove to anybody anymore, and I did not feel that way after Back on My Feet. I'm working really hard to not associate achievement with love. It's been my biggest issue over my entire life. I feel like I'm 70% of the way there. When my past years I was probably 0 to 10 to 20%. It is how I knew how to get love. Let me perform for you. Let me out, win. Blow your wildest expectations for myself and for back on my feet and solid core. And you'll be so impressed that I will get your adoration. And I associated that with love for a really long time. And I think now being married and the kind of love that I feel for Brett, that has nothing to do with how he performs. I think I feel that way for him because I feel that way about myself now.

[00:51:01] Sam Parr: I had the same chip on my shoulder after I sold my first company. I felt like I was like, I don't want to be a one hit wonder. I'm not sure if I'll always have that chip on my shoulder, but so you don't have any chip on your shoulder still to show that like, oh, no, solid core. It worked out because I made it work out and I'm gonna prove it again eventually. Or do you think you're done starting companies?

[00:51:20] Anne Mahlum: I won't ever. I've been wronged too many times when I've said never. So I don't say I'm not going to say never, but I definitely know. Not right now. I'm advising right now, and I really love that. And I love public speaking because I get to go in and share my knowledge, my mistakes, my advice, empower people. We all have disadvantages and advantages, right, Sam? Like we all have talent, skill sets, whatever. And I truly believe the reason I have been successful is I've always focused on what my advantages are and the things that I'm not good at. I don't even try like the things I'm a 1 or 2 out of three at that. If I really worked hard, I might become a 4 or 5. No one's ever going to hire me to to be a 4 or 5 at that company, you know? So I just like I let it go. And I'm really into teaching people that right now of like, I know I'm privileged, right? Because I'm white and I'm born in America. So this isn't about not acknowledging my privilege. But if we tell people that, oh, well, your circumstances are such, so your the chances of you being successful are this much. You're pretty much telling people not even to try. I try to take the approach of everybody has a special set of circumstances, disadvantages and advantages, and your mission in life is to figure out what yours is and put yourself in a position to win. So that's what I'm trying to work on now, is getting people and leading by example and hopefully showing folks that it doesn't matter what your past or circumstances look like, you've just got to figure out what your superpowers are and then figure out what business or what life requires those superpowers to be successful. And like, you can do it to truly, I believe that.

[00:53:08] Sam Parr: All right, so it's been a week since I did this interview with Anne, and I'm doing this voiceover now, and I am still kind of high on her energy. And I've thought about her a lot. In fact, I've probably told 10 or 15 people about her story since we last spoke, and this was one of those episodes where it really actually impacted me because her energy and her confidence, I sort of feel it rubbed off on me. I like her ability to grow. I like her ability to follow through on things, and I like her ability to be confident when things aren't maybe going that great. Like, for example, she said something about during Covid, how things weren't going well, but she's like, I'm a leader, I'm charismatic, and I know I can convince people to move forward because I can get them riled up about something. I can get them bought into my mission. I can get them to feel confident in themselves, because I know that I'm confident, and I love that she said that. I found that to be very inspiring. And by the way, I had never heard of Anne before this episode and I think that her personal brand, I think it's under the radar for how successful she is. So hopefully we are able to bring you someone new, someone awesome, someone who added value to your life because it added a lot of value to my life. And so that's this episode of Money Wise.