Can we be honest? Can we be brutally honest? Success always costs something. Now the problem is no one ever sits you down and tells you what you're allowed to stop paying for. You're taught how to grind, how to stretch. They teach you how to sacrifice, right? You've all been taught how to sacrifice, but you're rarely taught how to renegotiate the price once you've already paid enough. Somewhere along the way, success quietly asked for more, more hours, more emotional bandwidth, more margin, more presence at work, and less at home. And because you're capable, because you're strong, because people depend on you, sometimes the wrong people, let me just put that out there, you kept paying until one day you didn't feel defeated. You felt done. Not burnt out, not broken, just clear. Clear that your marriage was too valuable. Clear that you understood, that you finally understood your children were growing too fast. Your peace was too sacred and your obedience to God was worth more than applause, more than the spotlight. This episode is not about quitting success. It's about redefining it, because legacy leaders don't abandon the call. Stay with me. This is going to be a powerful conversation. Get ready. Uh, no. Ooh, that's better, right, Beth? Yeah! Yeah. She founded an architectural concrete company. He founded a hundred million dollar clothing company. She took the world by storm as a social media star. He took the world by storm as a famous serial entrepreneur. Together we started a business. And had babies. Now we're figuring out the best ways to do both. Join us as we learn from other entrepreneurs going through the same life struggles. As they share their life hacks about success, love, kids. And everything in between. Hello my friend, and welcome back to Becoming Unshakable, the Legacy Conversations bonus series. A special edition brought to you by the Entrepreneur Parents Podcast, a community of strong families, building unshakable legacies. I'm your host, Ildiko Ferenzi, and today we're having a conversation many parents feel, but few feel permission to name. Here's what no one tells you. We're going to talk about the hidden costs of success. Success doesn't usually demand the obvious things first. Can we agree on that? It doesn't ask for your health outright. It doesn't demand your marriage immediately. And it certainly doesn't take your children all at once. It's never all at once. But it takes increments. Late nights justified as this is just a season. Missed dinners reframed as temporary. This is just temporary. This is just a few. And emotional distance explained away as heavy pressure from others that don't value your beliefs. You could blame it on them. But before you know it, you're successful. You are, you're successful. But listen, you're paying in currencies you never agreed to spend. You're paying with it with things such as your nervous system, your connection with your family, with your spouse and your joy, because you're successful, right? But you don't have that joy. And the most dangerous cost of all, convincing yourself that this is what leadership requires. Here's the lie we're no longer accepting. If we don't keep paying this price, everything will fall apart. That's what we tell ourselves, isn't it? That's fear dressed up as responsibility. True leadership isn't proven by how much you endure. It's revealed by what you're willing to protect. We talk about this and protection doesn't mean shrinking. Doesn't mean shrinking. It means choosing structure over the chaos and all the craziness, alignment over acceleration and faith over fear based momentum. Because there comes a point where you just move through it, you're moving through it, you're moving through it. And then you turn back, you look back and things are pretty messed up. And let me say this with compassion. Your marriage is not collateral damage for your calling. That's not what it is. Your children are not obstacles to your assignment. You know where they're supposed to be. They're supposed to be included. And your home is not something you fix after success arrives. Why do we get to that place where we push and we push and we hustle and we let things crumble around us and we keep going with blinders on saying we can fix this later. Later never comes because by that time it's too late. If success requires you to neglect what God entrusted to you, then the cost is already too high. You're allowed to say that. You're allowed to redraw the boundaries. You're allowed to slow the pace. You're allowed to build in a way that your spouse and your children together will stay inside your story. That's not weakness. That isn't weakness to redraw those boundaries. That is wisdom. Scripture reminds us in 1 Corinthians chapter 10 verse 23. Can write this down for later. I have the right to do anything you say, but not everything is beneficial. I have the right to do anything, but not everything is constructive. Not everything is constructive. Just because you can doesn't mean you should. Legacy leaders don't live by permission alone. They live by wisdom. They must live by wisdom, by discernment, by what builds, not just what advances, not just what brings that big paycheck in. It gives you the spotlight and no, that's not it. The kind of wisdom that understands that restraint isn't weakness. It's strength. It's strength under control. That is unshakable living. Here's why this matters so deeply because there will always be voices urging you to choose what is profitable. Without ever asking whether it is eternally aligned. Some paths promise provision, but quietly pull you away from purpose. The focus on what pays now without regard for what shapes your soul, your family, your eternity. Just because something pays doesn't mean it's the path God designed for you. We'll talk more about that next week because this is really good. This is powerful and this is something you need to examine. Just make sure you're on the right path and if you're not, it's okay to pivot. You can pivot. You can change things. You can change things starting today. So, let's name it. Here are some prices legacy leaders quietly stop paying. Success that costs daily peace. Growth that fractures marriage. Think about that. Value that requires emotional absence. Validation that replaces obedience. Momentum that leaves children behind. So, instead, we choose. We choose steady growth. We choose, and we always talk about this, we choose integrated family life. Protected rhythms and success that feels clean when we lay our heads down at night. Grab those journals, my friends. Don't worry about this if you're driving. You can come back to it. I want you to pause with me for a minute and write down the first thing that comes to your mind, that comes to your heart after you hear these questions. So, if you're busy right now with the babies or you're in the middle of something, take a snapshot of where we are time-wise in the podcast and you can come back to this. If not, grab your journals and join me for this. Ask yourself honestly without judgment, what has success been costing me lately? And then ask the braver question, what am I no longer willing to pay for success, even if it means building differently and others don't applaud it? Write it down. Pray over it. I always encourage you to pray over it. Talk about it with your spouse if you're married because clarity isn't meant to stay internal. It's meant to change how you move, how you do things. So these are really important questions. It's not a load of them, but it's some really powerful questions that are going to make you look at things differently. Before we close, I really want to take a moment to pray with you. Wherever you are right now, walking, folding laundry, and perhaps you're already sitting quietly and that's perfect. Just take a breath with me. Father, we come to you with grateful hearts. Thank you for the clarity you bring when the noise quiets. Thank you for the courage you give us to protect what truly matters. Thank you for marriages that you are strengthening, for children you are covering, and for families you are calling into alignment. Lord, I ask you that you would gently remove any cost we've been paying, that you never asked us to carry. Give us wisdom to release what and who no longer serves your purpose and peace as we choose to build differently. Help us to be doers of your word, not just hearers. To walk faithfully, even when it's quiet. To lead with discernment, humility, and love. Bless every family listening today. Protect their homes. Guard their marriages. Cover their children. May the work of their hands, when aligned with you, produce fruit that lasts for generations. We trust you, Lord. We thank you and we give you all the glory. In Jesus' name, amen. Before you reach for that coffee, consider this. But if the energy boost you're looking for isn't in your cup, but in your cells, I challenge you to swap your morning coffee for Sheila Jeet by Symbiotica. And here's what can happen. No crash, no jitters, just clean, sustained energy, plus mental clarity and trace minerals that our bodies actually need. That are actually starving for, to be honest. This isn't just a supplement. It's an ancient adaptogen sourced from the Himalayas that supports myocondrial function, stamina and overall vitality. Your coffee never did that. Okay, let's just be honest. Try it for a week and tell me your body doesn't thank you. Symbiotica's Sheila Jeet is next level wellness and honestly, you may never go back to drinking coffee. Click the link below down in the bio and get your Sheila Jeet today. Let me leave you with this, my friend. You are not behind. You are not feeling. Stop worrying about losing momentum because you're not losing momentum. Okay? It may feel like it, but when you start doing the right things that are, that are putting you into your God given destiny, everything's going to change. Everything's going to change for the better. You're maturing and mature leaders don't abandon success. They refine it. They choose legacy over the noise. Over the pressure of others and all the things and always faith over fear. If this episode spoke to you, I want to gently invite you to do two things. First share this episode with someone you care about and they get it. They're going to know how much you love them. How much you care about them and that you were thinking about them for this very message. A spouse, a friend, a parent who's been caring more than they admit. Sometimes the most wonderful gift we can give is the permission to choose differently. That is a gift. That is a gift for us. That is a gift for our spouse. That is a gift for the children that we have together with our spouse. Second, if you feel led, leave a kind review and five stars. Not for us, but because your words help this message reach families who haven't found it yet. Families who are quietly searching for a better way to build. And if you're on Instagram, come say hello. Come say hello on all our pages. Tag us at entrepreneurparentpodcast and let us know what resonated with you. Tell us. Tell us. We love to know and you can find my personal handle down there for my personal page. I love to pray over you guys. Come into agreement with your calling and what you're working on. I truly love hearing from you. We all do. And again, I often pray over the messages that you sent when you asked me to. I always do. Sometimes I just do it because I love you guys so much and I'm so proud of you and you guys are doing such a, I was going to say such a jai mungus. My son was using the word jai mungus the other day. You guys are doing such a jai mungus amazing job. Listen, before we part, I also want to share something close to my heart. Speaking of Daniel and destiny, our children are personally using their own, their own savings, their own savings, their own funds. And they are funding the entrepreneur kids legacy show. They believe deeply in creating a screen free future for our children. And they, they are, they are here. They're putting a hundred percent in. We just did a podcast with them in the studio a little bit earlier and I love it. I love it. They're working so hard. They believe in raising faith filled courageous leaders for the next generation and they're putting everything in it. They're betting on you guys. So if you've listened to it and with your little ones and you feel moved to support their mission, you can do so at buy me a coffee dot com backslash entrepreneur kids. Every active generation generosity. I can't, it's very late. What time is it? It is. It's three AM in the morning, but I committed coming to the studio to do this. So sometimes I'm tripping up on my words. Oh, I'm somehow I'm feeling a little emotional because I just, I refuse to quit. I will always be here for you guys and I will always be, I will always keep putting one foot in front of the other. You can hear me. I have a little bit of a cold. The children and the children had a, they, we went on the road trip and we ended up getting a stomach bug. First it was destiny and then Daniel and I, we carried the show without destiny and then Daniel got sick and then I got sick. But here's the thing. They know that they understand the mission. So we're all pushing each other to never stop, to never give up one foot in front of the other, even when things are tricky, even when there's little obstacles in the way. I don't feel good. It would be so much easier for me to just be in bed and to just not worry about it. Maybe just skip it. But I'm challenging myself for you guys because if I can do it, I can do it. You can do whatever your family mission is. I'm getting a little emotional. Yes, because I know that you guys are doing the same thing with your missions because I'm reading your emails and messages. And when, when you share something with, like that with me and the children and our family, it pushes me to not give up. Do you understand? It's like this circle. We're all pushing each other because of this community. You guys are doing great things and I don't want to quit just because just because I, I don't, I don't feel well. I'm just, I'm pushing through it with love. I'm not over pushing myself, but I'm committing. And of course, if I, if I feel really, really bad, I wouldn't do it, but I'm not over pushing but I'm listening to my body and I, I know that I can do it. I feel good. I feel great that I'm here. I'm getting emotional because I'm proud of you guys. I'm proud of myself and I'm so happy anyway. So I was, I was trying to, I was trying to say, I just, I, I needed to take a second to share that with you guys because I know that it's going to encourage someone on the other end that they're not doing this for nothing. You're doing it for your family and you're doing it for your mission. As I was saying, um, their act, their act of generosity helps their voices reach more children and families around the world. They have friends all over the world. They've made this amazing, beautiful community and, and they're so lucky to be able to see who helps, who donates, who gives them a gift and they always send a precious thank you message. So please leave your social media handle. If you do give a gift so that they can, so they can find you and say hi. Thank you for being here. Thank you for joining us today. Thank you for listening with intention. Your spouse is going to thank you. Your children are going to thank you for all the work that you are pouring into yourself and them. And thank you for protecting what matters most. Your beautiful little family. Listen, we are going to pour into this year. We are going to use up every little last bit of blessing of talent that God gave us to fulfill that God given destiny with our family. We are going to do that. If we haven't been doing it, we're going to start this year because we are not going out with regret. Okay. We are going to fulfill our purpose, our destiny and everything that we know. We, because we know, we know the mission of our family. We know the purpose that we have inside of us. A lot of people don't tap into that purpose, into that God given destiny. They're doing the wrong things. And that's what this podcast is about today. That's what this episode is about. That we need to tap into that thing because we're not, we're not going to have regret. We're not going to have regret. Strong families, they don't happen by accident friends. They don't. They are built through discernment, faith and the daily courage to say this cost is no longer worth it. Know what you need to remove. You know who you need to remove and you know what you need to do. And that is how legacies last. I am so grateful for you. This is the most incredible community I'm so, so grateful for you. God bless you and glory to God always. I love you. Thank you beautiful friends for listening to this important message from Mama. There is someone you love and care about. Oh, and we'd love to personally invite you to listen to our podcast. It's for young future leaders ready to change the world and be a light in the dark. Listen together as a family. It's called the optional kids legacy show. We know you'll love it. Be bold, be kind, build an unforgettable family legacy. God bless you. We love you. And parents, if no one told you yet, let us be the folks. You're doing a remarkable job. And remember, you are the hero of your story because every legacy begins with a hero and that hero is you. This podcast is for inspirational and educational purposes only and it is not intended to replace professional advice, legal advice, diagnosis or treatment. The views expressed are based on personal experience and faith based insight and are meant to encourage reflection and growth. Always seek the guidance of qualified professionals regarding any questions or concerns you may have about your health, relationships or business.
