When Life Forces a Relaunch: Lisa Resnick on Cancer, Business & Resilience

[00:00:00] There is never going to be that perfect moment to take that leap. If you wait until everything is completely aligned, it's just not going to happen. You need to address the real issues preventing you from launching or relaunching. Lisa Resnick is the author of the book, You're a Mess But So Is the Universe. Founder of Dandelion Inc., a community that helps women entrepreneurs grow their businesses while staying grounded in real life.

[00:00:27] Lisa's all about turning the middle chapters of your life and business into fuel instead of friction. I've learned how to move forward in spite of anything. Around my 49th birthday, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. That would be the biggest relaunch moment that I had because it was learning how to live in the mucky middle. What helped you get to where you are right now?

[00:00:51] Letting go of the little things and focusing on what matters. Everything else, it's not worth the energy. How do you manage time during times like this? You need to have the ability to be...

[00:01:11] Lisa! Welcome to Relaunch to a Rich Life. It has been a long time coming, and I'm just excited to be here. I know. Oh, I'm excited too, and it has been a long time, hasn't it? It has been the last... I mean, I think the last long conversation you and I had was when I was on your show. You were. And that was, what, almost a year ago? It was. So, I mean, time is flying.

[00:01:39] That episode kept me energized for so long. So, it was a great episode. It really was, Hilary. You knocked it out of the park. It was beautiful. And it was right before your conference that you host on an annual basis. That's right, and here we are again. I love it. That's right. And, yes, ReLaunch to a Rich Life live is happening again, and it's only getting that much bigger and better.

[00:02:07] And, yeah, and I just, I really, my fingers are crossed that this is your year. And it's third year running, so we've worked out all the kinks. Although, I have to say, I keep throwing in a whole lot of newness, excitement. And, I mean, I got my crazy brain. That's what we do. We do. We make it like newness, new and different and all that exciting things.

[00:02:33] But today, it's about focusing on you and what you've done. And I want to start with the heart of the show, which is what's been the biggest Relaunch moment. The point where life, business felt messy, and you decided to go forward anyway. What would that be? That would be every single day, Hillary. But in reality. The truth is finally spoken.

[00:03:02] And that is part of what I profess and preach out there is that there is never going to be that perfect moment for you to take that leap. Does that mean to go into things blindly? Heck no, that's not what I'm saying. But what I am saying is if you wait until every I is dotted, every T is crossed, everything is completely aligned, then it's just not going to happen.

[00:03:31] And then you need to actually address the real issues that are below that are preventing you from launching or relaunching whatever effort that you're going after. But what's interesting, and you and I kind of touched on this before, is when can the relaunch turn into a negative?

[00:03:53] And I hear this a lot within my community or when I talk to other women entrepreneurs out there. And this falls in line with that whole perfection mentality, right? Of like, I am constantly going to create something.

[00:04:11] And then once I'm done creating that and the background work, everything that it takes, the emails, the funnel, the marketing, all those things that it takes to create something. And then after a month or two, I was like, oh, well, on to the next one. And it's time to relaunch again. It's like, oh, come on, on to the next one. Time to relaunch again.

[00:04:36] So really for me this year, and actually since we last spoke, I mean, a lot has happened in my life that I found myself constantly, because I do, I'm a creative by nature. I love it. And I'm a builder by nature. Like, those are the two things that I do. Which means we get tired fast of what we're working on. Yes. Oh. We need newness. We need the shiny penny. Yes.

[00:05:03] But the problem is to build a scalable business, one that you potentially can sell, you have to stay in your lane. You have to keep the focus. You have to keep the guard rolled up. One thousand percent. One thousand. Distract yourself. Yes. Yes. Or find other modes and hobbies to distract yourself. Exactly. Go to, you know. Keep yourself energized. Go to your dance. I did ask for a hand. I had to do something.

[00:05:33] You're not doing something. Exactly. I want to hear from the people listening right now. What are you going to go do that's like super out there crazy so that you don't distract yourself from what you need to be doing? That's right. Work. Good. That is completely right. So, um, what happened in November after, after we had met and everything. So come November, I did, I had the launch of my book and everything, which was extraordinary and awesome.

[00:06:01] And all the feels that I thought I was going to feel I did have, which is great because sometimes feelings can land a little bit shallow at times. You're like, oh, that didn't turn out the way I thought it would. Well, this, this thankfully and beautifully dead. And it was, it was good that it did because then I found out, um, at towards the end of November, um, beginning of December, actually around my 49th birthday that I was diagnosed with breast cancer.

[00:06:31] I'm running a free workshop on June 17th called the quiet crisis. And it's for women in a quiet crisis, not a loud one. It's the room where you finally name what's holding you back 60 minutes and it's free. And in the hour, I'm going to cover three things. Why this transition gets misdiagnosed as burnout, midlife or hormones. The three signals that your inner work is ahead of your outer life.

[00:06:57] And the three question audit that's walked through in real time with my prompts to take you a layer deeper than you go on your own. It's not a sales pitch. There's no upsell. It's the actual work that we'll be doing in 60 minutes with a room of women going through the same day. The transition. If anything I've said today has hit too close, this is the room that you need to be in. The link is in the bio to register and doors are going to close 24 hours before the workshop.

[00:07:26] Oh, I did not know that. So if you want to talk about relaunching, that would be the biggest relaunch moment that I had because it was a learning how to live in the muck middle beyond that I've ever had to live in the mucky middle before of not knowing which way to go until the plan was in place.

[00:07:50] And I'm going to say, I'm going to say, I'm going to say, I'm going to say, I'm going to say type A with a type B flexibility. But and thank God for that type B flexibility. And so with that, I mean, I did. I had to relaunch in a way that it was how do I still maintain my creativeness, balance my health and focus.

[00:08:18] So that was my relaunch for 2026 was wow. Focus. I got to go back because again, did not know this the last time that we got right before the book launch. We, you know, all this. And then within literally a month, tell us what happened. Tell us how it all like went down.

[00:08:42] So I got the phone call saying that, and which I am to all the listeners out there, please, please get your mammograms done on an annual basis. And when you get that letter in the mail talking about dense tissue breasts, do the extra step. So I never did the extra step from the mammogram.

[00:09:04] And this time around, I, instead of getting a letter in the mail, I got a phone call from the doctor's office saying, hey, we detected something. We need you to come into the office and get an ultrasound and potentially a biopsy. And I actually wrote a book about the three weeks in between.

[00:09:29] And because you have the moment and so many women experience this more than they do the actual diagnosis of breast cancer. And my heart goes out so much to the women during this period of time, because it's hard because we balance so many different things on a regular basis all the time. And now you have this lingering over you like no other. And you don't know which way to turn. You don't know how to plan.

[00:09:58] And we plan. We have to plan. That's what we do. We have to plan when we have to do the laundry. What's going to be the food on the table? What what's the entertainment planning for work and making sure everything is checked off. So we do this all the time. Even the least planners out there and free spirited people, they still plan as a woman. There's still that component. Right. So you're in this limbo in between.

[00:10:28] And I will. So I went in for the biopsy and I kind of knew like the longer it took to get the results back, probably the more testing that needed to be done. And then thanks to AI and and the rules out there. I did. I received via email my results and I uploaded them to chat GPT to give me the results via that way to interpret them.

[00:10:56] And then I called my doctor and the doctor was, of course, saying you should have just waited for us to contact you. But they totally understand. Nobody's going to do that anymore. Nobody does that anymore. Nobody. So but I'm. But I want to go back to and I'll never forget the call I got from the doctor. Never want to hear from the doctor. No, the personal call where you're like, hello. Hi, this is doctor.

[00:11:25] You know, I just want to let you know you have melanoma. I'm like, what? Yeah. What are you talking about? And so it's interesting because for all those dense breast women, which I am raising my hand right now. Yes, I recently did the whole ultrasound and all these different things and you really have to do it. I mean, it is like, yeah, it shouldn't even be an option. No, really shouldn't.

[00:11:53] So you have how long between is it that three weeks where your doctor calls you and then you go into the test or what's going on in this time? So, so within that three week period, so you have your call from the doctor saying we need to do further testing, of course, then you have the scheduling for the testing and then you have the wait for the results for the testing. So you have that three weeks. That's how long it allotted to for myself.

[00:12:19] Some people might be faster was probably also the time, you know, the year since it was during the holidays, time off and everything for people. But once that all happened and I learned what the problem was and it was, it was the tumor. It was pretty quick in coming up with a plan of attack to get this out of me.

[00:12:45] And afterwards, they do you have any of this in your family? No, no. This is like every, every woman's worst nightmare right now. You know, you're like, what? Yes. Well, I mean, there's, there's, there's a lot that I learned that I was unaware of beforehand as a female. A, I didn't know about birth control later on in your life, having an impact, increasing your risk.

[00:13:13] I didn't know alcohol increases your risk. Um, there's, I didn't know waiting later in life to have your children would increase the risk. So there was definitely a lot of different things that I was unaware of that increased your risk for breast cancer. And mine was, um, hormonal, um, estrogen and progesterone positive. Wow. So. Interesting.

[00:13:41] So you all of a sudden have a massive health relaunch. What if the next version of your life isn't missing? It's waiting for you to say yes. Relaunch to a rich life live where inspiration turns into identity and clarity turns into momentum. Last year, women walked out saying this was the best event they had ever been to because real transformation happened.

[00:14:05] This September 17 to the 19th in Scottsdale women gather for the inner shifts, the brave decisions, and the connections that change everything. This isn't just an event. It's the room where confidence locks in friendships form fast and your next chapter begins. Join us at relaunch to a rich life.com and experience relaunch to a rich life live. Yes.

[00:14:34] And as you said, isn't it like life is ironic where you're writing a book? You're. Yes, I know. Right. So is the universe. And then I reread it. I mean, you wrote it thinking one thing and I want to hear why you wrote it initially. And then what you have now kind of the secondary, right?

[00:15:00] Like, uh, I really need to lean in with what I just wrote. But what was the intention initially of why you felt like, hey, I gotta, I gotta write this. So for how many years I used to have the post is no post it note on my wall that would say write a book. I, I have written since I was a little girl. There was a period of time where I stopped writing.

[00:15:26] Um, but late forties, I started back into my whole writing. Um, and I really wanted to write a book and I would start, I would get 20, 30 pages in and I would just stop. And I'd be like, no, now's not the time for this book. And one day I decided no more post a note. It goes away.

[00:15:52] The next day I started writing and I dumped within a 10 day period, 70,000 words. What? As a, as a book author as well. What? Yes. Wow. And it was really, I found myself over and over again when I would be talking to other women entrepreneurs

[00:16:20] as part of the dandelion community, I was saying the same things to them. And that was keep pushing forward and listening to everything that they had going on saying that shouldn't stop you. Those are all things that should be part of your journey moving forward. Don't wait. Let's do it now. Let's just get something in the books. Let's set a date and we're going to move forward.

[00:16:50] And that's why it was so easy for me to pour into the book and showing because they would say to me all the time, Lisa, you got your life so together. Like everything, like I'm not, I'm not like you. And that is a large component of the book as well is me sharing that I do not have my life together.

[00:17:12] It's just, I've learned how to move forward despite or in spite of anything. So it was even like the breast cancer diagnosis. It was, yes, I relaunched and was like, okay, you've got to focus in, you know, your energy is going to be, be spent most of the time. So where should that focus be honed in on?

[00:17:37] And I was able to prep everything, have my podcast ready to go, have my social media already ready to roll. Thank goodness for technology, right? All these components already done. So I would be able to balance both of them at the same time. And that's not 50, 50, but it is holding both of them up. It's just my health took 80%. Wow. 20% went into work, but you wouldn't know that from the outside because I had it covered.

[00:18:08] Interesting. So when you're, when you're reflecting now after the fact it's only, I mean, it's been what, seven months? Yes. Actually, I just had my second phase of reconstruction. So I did have the bilateral vasectomy ended up with stage two. Um, it did hit a couple of my lymph nodes. Very glad that I did the bilateral and not just one.

[00:18:37] But, um, but anyway, um, that was two weeks ago today. Wow. I mean, you know, you talk timing. Yeah. Right. I mean, a year ago we would have been like, all right, what are you going to talk about? Well, I got the book. And then you all of a sudden are now leaning more heavily in the book. Yes.

[00:19:00] When you think about the book and the underlying core messages, when you're talking about you're a mess, but so is the universe. Explain, explain the title, explain what initially we're going through. Like what, what, what was so important about that title to you? So I remember looking up at the sky and being in awe and how beautiful it is, but the reality

[00:19:29] of it is that it's chaotic up there. You have stars clashing into each other. There are worlds unknown. What Pluto's a planet. Now it's not a planet. It's a planet again, like all, all these things, but we still look up at the sky and see how beautiful it is. And that's us. That is who we are. So that's where the title came from.

[00:19:57] So if you can look in amazement up there, you should look at yourself with that same amazement. So here you, here you are a month after and you're like, what? And you, I know you, and you're trying to, you know, you promote the book. Yes. Usually promotion is, you know, the three to six months after you write the book, you're going through this.

[00:20:23] But sometimes I wonder, did I write the book for my future self? Oh, totally. 100. As you say that it's like, yes, yes. I mean, it was, it was so divine timing. I mean, really, if you think about it. And what did you, for those that are going through, not just a health crisis or a relaunch

[00:20:50] in your personal or your business or whatever, what did you really hone in on in the book that helped you over the last seven months, be able to get to where you are right now? Which I'm like, so just blown away by you. I have to say. Letting go. Letting go of the little things. What's your price.

[00:21:18] You know, I was a really good business. Hundreds, you are. All right. And you're doing this. I'm looking for the little things that could help you. You know that you're. I'm looking for things like eating that. So if you're looking for what you're saying, you know, you're looking for the truth as part of what you're talking about. It's just that one, and that's not to ask for the most part of a conversation. You know, it's just that way in the end of the conversation. And this is the part of what you're asking, you know, everything to

[00:21:46] sweat the small stuff. I had the gentleman who wrote that book, his wife right after, not right after, but soon after he passed, I did an interview with her. And you know, you sit there and you think these things that we make such big deals out of. Yep. When you have something like this, you're like, really? Really? Yep. It's just not worth it. No. And then of course, you think of the old Irish saying,

[00:22:16] did you ever hear it? Which one? There's only two things in life that you have to worry about. Whether you are healthy or whether you're sick. If you're healthy, then you have nothing to worry about. If you're sick, you only have two things to worry about, whether you live or whether you die. If you live, you have nothing to worry about. If you die, you only have two things to worry about,

[00:22:41] whether you go to heaven or you go to hell. If you go to heaven, come on, it's an Irish one. If you go to heaven, you have nothing to worry about. If you go to hell, you'll be so busy shaking the hands of your friends. So you have nothing to worry about. Oh, so good. So your perspective on life and kind of going back to, you know, don't sweat the small

[00:23:11] stuff. It's like, Hey, you know, let it go. Let it go. How has that changed you in business now? Cause I know you're back in the groove. You have this incredible community. Like what's changed? So the moments of the highs and lows in business that we all experienced, I don't care how long you've been in business. We will all, all of us should be able to relate and connect with each other

[00:23:40] when we talk about our highs and our lows and the lows are not quite as low and they definitely do not last as long as they used to before. And it, and it's one of those things of you don't necessarily

[00:24:02] put on blinders, but again, you still prioritize where your efforts need to go. And a lot of that too, it's like, yes, um, the diagnosis probably made it happen a lot sooner, but age, age kind of is like the greatest thing. Sometimes if I think about it, if 20 year old Lisa would not have had

[00:24:27] these thoughts, maybe even with breast cancer diagnosis, it wouldn't be to the level that it is right now. I get it. It's true. I mean, I talk about the wise woman within us. I mean, you know, she's a heck of a lot wiser. Yeah. I guess our, you know, our concerns vary. One of the things that

[00:24:54] I would imagine you've had to lean into as well, I've read a lot about how you have the ability to really be an expert in time mastery and helping when you're going through surgeries, like you are reconstruction and you're doing all these things. Time is precious. And what about your time mastery

[00:25:22] method? Are you really leaning into, and what can you share with others that are feeling kind of almost frozen? Because as you said, 80, 20, 80%, I've been focusing on my relaunch of my health, but business is still there, right? How do you do it? How do you, how do you manage time during, during times like this? Well, again, and I said this, you need to have the ability to be somewhat

[00:25:49] flexible. Um, so you need to be able to go into the systems that you've already created and see where tweaks need to happen in order to allow for those other moments. And it doesn't necessarily just have to be 80% towards your health. It could be taking a vacation with your friends or your family, whatever it may be. Um, there are ways that you can create the scene and make

[00:26:15] it happen without losing what you're doing and the momentum that you have going with your business. Um, and I think as women too, we have a struggle of not saying yes to people a lot. Um, and if you find yourself not really being able to do it, there are again, programs out there,

[00:26:43] are platforms that you can tap into and utilize to be your bodyguard, if you will, and protect that time for you. So if you need to tweak your Calendly link or whatever you decide to use, um, do it, make sure that you allow for the buffer times, which you should be doing anyway, because God knows when you get the phone call from a school saying you need to drop off a lunch or whatever it may be, you should be tweaking and making sure that those buffer times are part of it.

[00:27:13] And boundaries are established for your own wellbeing. I'm a very big proponent of boundaries. Um, also making the list of being like, this is my focus. If these things do not fall in line with what my focus and my priorities are, then you should say no, because those things, unless they're a side passion of your personal fun stuff and everything, but if they're not aligned with what you have going

[00:27:43] on or will impact your ability to grow, where you really wanted to hone in and grow, then you simply say in the courteous way possible, that sounds amazing. I really would love to do that. Unfortunately though, right now I need to hone in on this. It's just those simple things. And then of course, there's the batch working and understanding yourself. Are you more of a creative person

[00:28:12] in the morning? Do you find yourself more creative in the evening and in the morning, getting those tasks done that you don't want to do, like going through your QuickBooks and all that other stuff that, that a lot of creative people just do not like doing, but you should be doing as a business owner. So you figure out those times and then you set your schedule based upon that. So then you thrive instead of constantly knocking yourself down because you're not doing the things

[00:28:41] that you're supposed to be doing. And one of the things that I admire about you is your positive attitude and you right now, I'm sure. Cause I remember when I was exactly where you are, you have those darker days you have. Oh yeah. It's a lot. And you're like, how do you,

[00:29:08] I have a process that I call tune in to help me kind of, whether you want to call it, get out of a funk, get unstuck, move forward with, you know, a small, a small step, but what do you do to help yourself? What's kind of your go-to to get out of a funk? So it depends on what mood I'm in, to be honest

[00:29:31] with you. Um, a lot of times it's outside walking because I am a little bit more limited on my movement right now because, and I am a runner. I, I practice yoga, like all the things that I used to do beforehand were removed. So I had to adapt. Um, so it was walking, it's reading. Um, it's also,

[00:29:59] I find more so now because I am very much that personality that still keeps going forward, that you have the feelings of it festering underneath that you don't want it to explode. I will watch a tearjerker, something to allow myself to cry when I will not let myself cry.

[00:30:23] That's so interesting. I wonder how many people are listening right now. I find that when I have not had a good cry in a while, I'll be like, Oh, I need, I need a good, just bring on, you know, some of the really like heavy duty one. My husband's like, Oh no. I'm like, I just feel like watching. My husband will look at me and be like, are we watching a tearjerker tonight? I'm like,

[00:30:52] yes. It does. There's something so cathartic about just letting it out. And as you know, women, when we, when we're trying to juggle everything and so many relaunches are just like trying to knock us down. It's, it's, it's a really great activity to do because it does just, it's a release. It truly is. So important. Let's talk about your husband for a second.

[00:31:21] Support systems. And yeah, you've built up this incredible community of, I think it's just women. Is that right? It is just women. Just women. But there's also the, you know, most important relationship, which is the one at home. How have you continued to relaunch into that relationship with

[00:31:46] how long you two been together? We will be together 20 years come March, 2027. Married. We've been together 22 years right now. But I mean, our, he is absolutely amazing. And I have said this

[00:32:09] recently on another interview, um, that I do find it a little bit amusing when I hear my friends who are divorced talk about the next guy and, and the checklist for the next guy. Um, while I thinking about my husband and I was, I was commitment phobic before him. I mean, if I dated a guy longer than two

[00:32:36] weeks, it was a miracle. I mean, I had guy friends stop me and say, listen, Lisa, if this is going to stop our friendship, then nevermind. We can still be friends because I would, I would go in a different direction wherever I saw them coming. If they asked me out on a date, because I would say yes. And then I would regret that I would say yes. So I would then avoid, which is terrible. Absolutely terrible.

[00:33:04] Don't do that. Um, but with him, it was completely different and I didn't have a list. He was my best friend. I enjoyed hanging out with him and he was hot, but, and that was it. Like I didn't sure helps. Yeah, it does. It does. And he still is hot, but like, but it wasn't a, it wasn't a, he had to have a sense of humor. He needed to have this job. Like he needed, he needed to have his life

[00:33:32] together. I sure as shit didn't have my life together, let alone make sure somebody else had theirs. Like there, there was never anything beyond somebody that I connected with that I enjoyed and I loved. And that was it. And thus far it has proven to be pretty darn successful. And it's not that we don't fight. God knows we fight. Both of us are type A personalities. So,

[00:34:01] but we're also very yin and yang at the same time as well. If you ask our boys, they'll be like, it's funny. Things you get upset about dad doesn't and vice versa. That's a great relationship. Well, as I actually sent him today, a, um, do you know, on social media, the Winnie the Pooh? Yeah. Like, so I sent him a conversation between Pooh and Piglet and where Piglet talks about him,

[00:34:31] him being scared and Pooh basically saying to him, well, that's what I'm here to remind you of what you've already accomplished and what you've already done. All this stuff. And I said that to, and I sent it to him saying, thank you for being my Pooh. Oh, on that note, that's a wrap. Oh, that's so sweet. I do these too where I send them and I'm sure my, you know, my team that helps with social media and is looking at just, you know,

[00:35:00] have we responded and all this? I'm sure they're seeing these things go through and they're like, Oh God. Here she is. She's being sappy again. But Lisa, I have to say where I thought the show was going, it changed dramatically. And my heart goes out to you. A relaunch health is just one of those relaunches that all I can say is that the love that I just, I feel for you right now and your

[00:35:30] strength. I hope it's coming through to you because what you just said, it inspires others. It helps people realize that, you know what, there are going to be these situations and they come right there. They come at the most inopportune times. Come on. I just launched a book. Let me go out and enjoy it. And instead you're now, you're now leaning into the book and there's always a reason. There's always a reason for everything, but I'd love to be able to share where people can find you,

[00:35:59] reach out to you, buy your book. Where can they do that? So you can purchase my book on Amazon or Barnes and Nobles. You could also reach out to me anytime via dandelion-inc.com, my website where you'll find everything. You can DM me direct at

[00:36:19] dandelioninc.com, my website where you can email at dandelioninc.com. I'm pretty good with responding to emails. That's that type A personality coming through, but. I get it. I get it. As we wrap, I would just like to ask the audience that if there's somebody

[00:36:43] that you know that's going through a relaunch health situation and you think that this episode might be able to bring a little levity, please share it. Please subscribe to these episodes so that you don't miss any of them. We always are going deep into relaunch wealth, relaunch health, and relaunch relationships. And sometimes we think we're going to be going down the path of one

[00:37:13] and another one surfaces. And I guess that's why we call them relaunches because you're never one and done, are we? Life has a tendency to give you the relaunches when you least expect them. So at this point, thank you, Lisa. Such a pleasure to go through this journey. Super excited for

[00:37:36] this next chapter for you. And I'm looking at you when we were talking before and getting involved now in fiction books and kind of the next big relaunch for you. It's exciting. And you're out there making all of these incredible networking systems work for women, teaching them all of the important things that are now even more important, right? You have a different perspective.

[00:38:06] I'm so excited. Yeah. So again, for those listening, thank you for tuning in and relaunch into the next best week. And we will be right here again next week. Take care. All right. Your next level is waiting. Thanks for tuning in. This is amazing what we're doing

[00:38:33] right now. Relaunch into a rich life. If today's episode sparks something in you, don't keep it to yourself. Please share it. I'll tell you more later about how that actually helps you have more success yourself. Subscribe so you don't miss one episode. Let's create unstoppable momentum together.

[00:38:56] So until next time, keep relaunching, keep rising and remember, it's go time.