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September 29th, 2021

Slow Cookin’ with Stephanie O'Dea, Episode #48

  1. Slow Cookin’ with Stephanie O'Dea, Episode #48 Larry Sprung, Stephanie O'Dea 34:37

Today’s guest on the Mitlin Money Mindset™ is Stephanie O’Dea, New York Times bestselling author and slow living expert. In 2008, Stephanie made a New Year’s resolution to use her Crock-Pot slow cooker every day for a year and write about it online. This simple idea resulted in 10 books, 6 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, and a brand new career she could do at home in her pajamas. Stephanie feels that she’s living her version of the American dream. She believes that at the end of the day, we all just want to feel calm, cool, and collected like we did our absolute best. It starts with learning to live slowly. Stephanie says we live in a pressure cooker world so let’s be more like the Crock-Pot. Listen in to see how you might be able to live slowly, enjoy life, and do it on your terms. 

You will want to hear this episode if you are interested in…

  • Stephanie’s path to becoming a best-selling author and slow living expert? [2:32]
  • Starting a business 6 months before a recession [5:46]
  • With 353 dinners did Stephanie ever run out of ideas? [7:13]
  • Slow vs Instant cookers [10:26]
  • What is slow living all about? [13:25]
  • What kind of mindset do people need to live slower [16:25]
  • Actionable things you can do to move towards a slow living Lifestyle [18:04]
  • The Tony Robbins for moms [22:13]
  • The mindset needed to take a passion and turn it into a successful business [26:05]
  • What Stephanie did today that put her in the right mindset for success? [30:39]

Becoming a slow living expert and launching a lifestyle

How did Stephanie end up on a path to becoming a New York Times bestselling author and slow living expert? Stephanie says she’s mostly a mom. She has three children and needed to find a legitimate way to work from home while raising them. In 2008, she made a new year’s resolution to use her Crock-Pot slow cooker every day for a year and write about it online. Stephanie wanted to learn how to run a website, she wanted to write and find a way to force herself to write every day. She was drawn to the idea of a New Year’s resolution because it had an end date. However, the site took off and book publishers started calling. Stephanie ended up on TV and all of it sort of snowballed in this cool way AND she still got to stay home with her kids. While making more than enough money to support her Family.

What is Slow Living?

Slow living is a feeling. Stephanie doesn’t like the hustle, do more, be more, achieve more, go, go, go, life. She says a lot of times people are trying to cram so much in that they forget that life is long and you might as well enjoy it. There’s no reason to over-schedule and over-burden yourself. Stephanie explains a lot of people underestimate what they can get done in a week so instead of scheduling it out in a nice, slow, methodical way, they over-schedule themselves, and then because of that, they don’t get it all done. Then they are always trying to play catch up and it doesn’t feel right.

Stephanie tells moms they have to pay themselves first. For Stephanie, that means getting up at 4 am and giving herself an hour before the craziness of life and family start. Where she is alone in the kitchen with her coffee and nice-smelling candle and she’s able to journal and think. If that seems ridiculous to you, then just start shifting forward, but give yourself at least a half-hour to an hour to remember who you are as a human before you start essentially firefighting all day long.

The mindset needed to turn a passion into a business

What is the mindset needed for the moms and people listening to take their passion, something they like doing and turn it into a successful business? Stephanie thinks one of the better things she did was giving it a whole year. She had an idea for a New Year’s resolution and she stuck to it. Stephanie says sometimes people have great intentions, but they don’t follow through. The execution gets muddied because they give up and it takes a long time to get the ball rolling and to feel comfortable with what you’re doing. Eventually, success can be reached for almost any idea and anything, if you just stick with it and follow your gut and your intuition. So a follow-through mindset is highly recommended and if you don’t know if you have that Stephanie can help!

Connect with Stephanie O’Dea

In 2008, Stephanie O’Dea made a New Year’s Resolution to use her crockpot slow cooker every day for a year and write about it online.

This simple idea resulted in 10 books, 6weeks on the New York Times best sellers list, and a brand new career she could do at home, in her pajamas.

I am a New York Times best-selling author of 10 books. I live in the SF Bay Area, and am a mom to three amazing girls, and a basset hound puppy named Sheldon.

I feel as if I’m living My Version of the American Dream.

I believe in Slow Living — I got my start writing online in 2008 when I started my A Year of Slow Cooking website.

I now write, teach, and speak all things Slow Living. I coach busy people who need to get their “Have-Tos” completed

efficiently and effectively so there is time for the “Want-Tos.”

I work primarily with moms who are trying to feel and function their best while juggling “all the balls.”

I believe that at the end of the day, we all just want to feel calm, cool, & collected, and like we did our absolute best.

It starts with learning to Live Slowly. We live in a pressure cooker world. Let’s be more like the crockpot.

Guests on the Mitlin Money Mindset Show are not affiliated with CWM, LLC, and opinions expressed herein may not be representative of CWM, LLC. CWM, LLC is not responsible for the guest’s content linked on this site.

Connect With Mitlin Financial

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Lawrence “Larry” Sprung, CFP® is a husband, father, entrepreneur and mental health advocate.

Larry is the author of the Amazon Bestselling book “Financial Planning Made Personal” and the also host of the Mitlin Money Mindset™ a podcast that reminds you to ask yourself “What did you do today that brought you joy?®”

In 2004 he founded Mitlin Financial, Inc. naming the firm memory of Larry’s wife’s grandfather, Mitchell, and his mother, Linda. During his career, Larry has found that a lot of industry terms and concepts can seem confusing to outsiders. That’s why he works with the families he serves to break down complex financial topics into easy-to-understand concepts.

In recognition of Larry’s significant contributions to his profession, he has received quite a few awards. In 2021, Larry was named to the Investopedia 100 Top Advisors in 2021 and was even more humbled to make their Top Ten list for 2022.

Outside the office, one of Larry’s greatest passions is raising awareness for mental health. He spent over 12 years serving on the National Board of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) and sits on its financial and investment committees. With his wife, Denise, he has raised more than $1.7 million for the organization through the Keith Milano Memorial Fund. The fund was created in memory of his brother-in-law.

Larry values his family tremendously and his desire to do right by his wife and two sons drives who he is in and out of the office.