Entrepreneurship comes with its ups and downs, but more often than not, the biggest obstacle we face is ourselves. How do we tackle these inner workings that stop us from becoming thriving entrepreneurs? Lia Zorzou had to face a struggle in her life to truly find herself, her goal, and her purpose. Now she offers the world’s first experiential emotional intelligence online leadership program. Join host Liza Florida as they discuss how Lia is building an empire of thriving entrepreneurs, helping them overcome challenges in their quest for greatness, and empowering them to pursue their fullest potential. It all starts with belief. Tune in as she shares mindset strategies and practical skills you can and should develop to reach your goals in business and in life.
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Building An Empire of Thriving Entrepreneurs with Lia Zorzou
Our special guest has a BSc, MSc, and PhD in System Dynamics, a national three-year scholarship, two tech startup awards, and more than twenty years in communication and managing multimillion-dollar projects. She had to face a struggle in her life to truly find herself, to find her goal and purpose in life. Now she offers the first experiential emotional intelligence online leadership program in the world. She helps you identify what you do that doesn’t serve you and helps you identify how you need to behave to get the results you want. Please help me welcome, Miss Lia Zorzou, to the show. How are you, Lia?
Thank you so much for this introduction. I’m honored to be here.
I’m truly honored as the host of the show because Lia is our first guest from Greece. Everyone that’s going to be tuning in from Greece, welcome. Lia is the first one on the show to be from Greece. The honor is all mine.
Thank you so much.
For many people, Lia and I talked before. We did our pre-interview so that she could share her story. I was completely impressed with myself to hear about the journey that she had gone through and to create this online leadership program. I would love for you, Lia, to first share a little bit of your story that led you up to where you are now.
Thank you so much. Several years ago, I was running my technological startup. I was happily married. I had a three-year-old son and I was living my dream. I had just gotten into entrepreneurship. I was trained to become an entrepreneur in the States. I joined The Founder Institute, one of the biggest accelerators in the world. I had my pilot. I had my team. I was talking to investors. I was on cloud nine. Suddenly, my sister who was 22 months younger, recently divorced with two young kids, was diagnosed with a rare disease. Only three people in Europe had it until then. Immediately, my reaction to this news was to start caring for my family. I stopped running my startup.
Behavior is what actually drives our results. Behavior is what actually drives our results. Click To TweetI worked with her for three months doing research at night because I come from academia. I know how to do this. I was researching the best institution and the best doctors all around the world. I was with her at her doctor’s appointments. Sometimes I would take her test results and I would go to see more doctors on my own. At some point, I don’t want it to be seen by anyone else.” After three months, my sister had a team of doctors and a plan to deal with her disease.
I was depressed at home. I couldn’t take care of my son. My relationship with my husband was shaky. I had lost all my passion. When I started my technological startup, I was awarded for my passion. I was driven and passionate. I would give talks. I had lost everything. This was the first time in my life at 40 years of age that I said, “I don’t like this life. This is not me. I don’t like this. I want more.” This was the first time in my life after four decades that I said, “I need help outside of my friends and family.”
This is when my personal journey started. I joined a group of women who were facing similar challenges. I found out that since the day we are born, we are given our own specific roles to serve our parents. The roles are chosen without our parents realizing it subconsciously, but these roles are different. In my family, I had the role of the advocate side, the one who ran to help others without being asked to do so, the one who never ask for help. I had won scholarships. I had my PhD in the UK. I was doing everything on my own. I traveled around the world with my partner. I have done a lot of things.
My sister on the other hand was regarded as the person who would always need help. She couldn’t do anything on her own. She would always need help from us. She was regarded as a weak person. This is not true. We are all born with the same capabilities. We can become president of the United States. The sky is not the limit.
I was saying that to you before we started. The sky is not the limit. We’re here to show you that.
These were the roles that we were given. We followed these roles because in that system, in that family when you are young, in order to survive, this is the only truth that you know, to operate within your role. After four decades, me being 42 years of age, I remember that night that my mentor said, “Lia, now you understand why you caved like this. You run to save your sister and you put your sister on top of your priority list. Now you understand why. This is what you had been led to do. Now you can choose who you want to become, how you want to behave, what you want from life.”
One of the things that shocked me then was that in my family, I was regarded as the black sheep. The one who would always do what she wants to do on her own. On the other hand, I was following my role even within the black sheep characteristic that everyone else has given me. I was shocked to realize that although I thought I was following what I wanted, I wasn’t. I had done big things in my life. When my mentor said that, the first thing that I thought was, “I’m doing this. I’m saving myself and my life. I’m doing this work and I’m getting free.” It was like all the lights came on in the room.
The second thought that I had was, “When I do that, I’m going to help others.” Both thoughts came that afternoon. I could see all around me that people are trying to fulfill other people’s expectations. They were chasing these amazing careers, but they didn’t want it. They were running away from money. They couldn’t even discuss money. This journey started for me. I’m smiling here and I’m happy right now. This work, first and foremost, helped me to be a sister to my sister for the last two years of her life. I wasn’t her savior. I was her sister. I was there to listen, care, and understand her. I stopped giving her advice. I stopped researching online. I stopped suggesting things to her. I’m glad that we had these two years, but at the same time, I’m sorry and sad that many years had passed within our roles and we couldn’t have it through a relationship.
This was the first benefit. The second is that I am free. I’m happy. I’m making a lot of money that I didn’t before. I had degrees. I had experience. Why? It’s because I had limited beliefs and I was following what my dad used to say or how he was dealing with money or he was dealing with sales. I couldn’t sell myself before. Now I can tell people all around the world to get free from all the roles that they carry. The feedback that they get is incredible. I had a client I met who said, “Thank you for making me in a position to be happy. I’m the happiest I have ever been.” With things like this, I don’t need anything.
That’s when you get everything. The universal laws seem so crazy to grasp, but once you stress test them, it works, but you have to go through that process of trusting them and implementing them for you to see it.
This is something that I’m trying. One of the benefits that my clients get from the literacy program is to follow their dreams and make a lot of money with this. Not working a lot of hours. Until they do though, they struggle. They say, “I’m doing everything that you have told me but nothing happens.” What’s missing is the deep belief in them that they can do it.
I fully agree because I’ve been down that road. It’s like, “I know I have to believe.” You’re like, “I’m saying that I do, but it was something minute inside you internally.” Once that clicks, it’s game over.
Belief is the core. Click To TweetEverything becomes easy.
What you’re there to do is you’re there to coach them through all that difficult challenging part until the light goes off.
Also, to support them and to shine the light on areas that we are afraid to deal with. I’m not teaching. I’m asking questions. With the right questions and the way that the group works and the program works, they get the help they need to see themselves.
You’re the facilitator asking the questions.
I’m creating the environment. I set the limits and the guidelines. I’m there to facilitate. Magic happens because they start discussing and role-playing. They put different roles in an exercise. They play the role. When you take the hat or the role, you have to see your life and what you do. This is where the deep realizations happen. They can see the difference between what they believe they do and what they truly do. They believe they behave in a specific way, but they may behave in a totally different way. Behavior is what drives our results. How we behave is critical.
Since you covered so much, this has been amazing. I wanted to share your story because of what you’ve been doing. Even you have the first experiential emotional intelligence online leadership program. How did you put that together?
I had entrepreneurship training. I did the work on me on experiential work. I was the client for three and a half years. I saw crowd work. I said, “This is gold. This is what I would use.” The mechanism of the system fascinates me. One-to-one sessions cannot go that deep. It cannot do this kind of work. The group has deep transformations. For 25 years, I got trained on how to use this system. I combined because I love entrepreneurship and entrepreneurs. I use my network among other business owners. I said, “I’m going to help people who are around their businesses for 20 years or 25 years, and they are not happy.
These people are older than 50 or older than 45 years of age. Now they have reached the point where they say, “I need help. I cannot do it on my own.” If they could, they would have done it. The program was designed based on my personal experience and the results that the clients want to get, to follow their passions, connect to their emotions, speak their minds, and make fast decisions. Everything that I have gained in my life, I put into the program, how to sell yourself and how to realize how you relate towards money. I designed everything using experiential exercises. I created a twelve-month program.
That’s a minimum. They have to be in the program for twelve months. It’s a group setting.
It is a group setting, but it’s not automatically generated. It has no more than eighteen people in the group. When someone joins my program, I spend the first month doing one-to-one sessions for one hour per week. That helps them with our biggest challenge. For example, someone may join and say, “I want to multiply my business revenue by 5 or 10 times.” I’m working with them straight away. In this first month, they get to know me and how I work. I get to know them a bit deeper. I choose the right group for them to join with people with similar challenges and difficulties so that we can work well together. They start working in a group setting. We have three hours every week. They have 24/7 access to me. They can pick up the phone and WhatsApp and they have access to me.
You’re okay with that. I know there are a lot of coaches right now that are getting bombarded with time schedules that they’re even scheduling maybe certain days and times per week.
I’m not booked. People don’t call me. I call them. I wanted to come back to that. One of the hardest things a person who joins my program finds difficult to do is to ask for help. They work with me. They join the program. They have difficulties and they will not give me a ring straight away. There or four months may pass before they find the courage to call me. This is in our conditioning. The excellent students are running to serve everyone else. I don’t ask for help. It is a big step for them during the program.
You need to have an overflow. You need to be filled so much that there is an overflow you can give. Click To TweetWithin the program, sometimes they will say, “I don’t want to bother you.” I say, “I’m here for you.” I will call them because I have been in their shoes. I know the path that they’re passing. I know that they need them. I feel them. Because we all connect to our emotions and we connect deeply, the bonds that we create are strong from the beginning. They tell me things that they haven’t told anyone.
That’s interesting. That’s why I wanted to ask you these questions, because in most cases, especially here amongst the coaching groups and masterminds that are here, from the beginning, they always participate. When you have these clients, I’m assuming they’re highly successful, but they want to take their business to another level, or are they also switching careers?
It’s both. These are the two different groups of clients I get. I get the ones who say, “I will stay. I may stay in this career.” As soon as they join the program, they get support from it. They stop and follow their passion because one of them might discover a goal. It is called the dream setting goal. This is how we start. I have these kinds of people. I have people who are good at what they do. They have won awards, but they don’t have the money. Money comes and goes. They haven’t reached the life and the success in their business that they believe that they can have.
As soon as they join, for example, they wouldn’t pick up the phone to call previous clients to ask if they need their services again because they are afraid that they will be regarded as beggars or things like that. I work with them to get rid of these beliefs and to deeply feel that if they don’t call, they cannot tell them. For me, selling equals helping and helping equals selling. In order for someone to be helped by anyone, they need to buy your products and services.
I am live every day on social media. I know that if someone doesn’t join my program, I cannot deeply help them. I said that it is a twelve-month program. We work every week for many hours. They have access to me. I have a 100% attendance rate. No one misses a session. I had people joining from campsites or driving on top of mountains to get a WiFi signal or 4G join the room because they see the result.
This is what I want to tell the audience. Lia is a perfect example of this. When she healed her wounds and her limiting beliefs, she became certain and clear that she created a program. This is what I’m saying though. She has unlimited amounts of abundance in wealth. She’s teaching it to other people and they are on board that they don’t want to miss a class. It’s the same thing that happened to me, even in this show. In the first seasons, I was like, “I would accommodate anyone’s time.” By the time I got to Season 5D, it was like, “This is my schedule and everyone filled in because they want it to be a part of it.” When you’re so certain, and that’s what Lia and I were talking about, it’s that belief system, once that clicks, it’s game over, because you can almost will anything into your life as long as you know you’re capable of doing it.
The belief is the core. When it started, people told me, “You will not have clients. This is not going to be a success. You will fail.” No one offers a year program. Initially, I wanted to create a two-year program. Soon, this program will become a two-year program because clients need more time to get rid of their beliefs. If you are following roads and beliefs for 4 to 5 years, you need time.
I agree. It took me about 2 to 3 years.
Everyone told me, “You will fail. Don’t do that.” I followed what I knew would work and what I knew my clients needed. I didn’t have clients in the beginning. All of us need to start with something. I was so certain that this is what they need that no one questioned it, the people who join the program. At the moment, this program has sold £50,000. I don’t have CEOs. I don’t have rich people joining. My clients are not big and rich.
They’re paying £50,000.
These are single mothers with four kids, people who decided that they are not going to invest in anything else until they invest in themselves, and people who borrowed money to join the program overnight. Someone called me the next day. They said, “Lia, I’m doing the program.” I said, “What happened since last night?” We were talking and I was helping her. I said, “I got the money. I’m joining.” The determination of people when they are ready to change their lives is profound. I have goosebumps now describing this.
I want to let the audience know that this is exactly why I did this season and why I have these guests. I want you to know that it almost seems profound, miraculous and magical. You can’t make any logical sense out of what people do or the abundance that flows in.
If you don’t truly say what you really want, don’t expect to have it. Click To TweetI had a client who knew me. I do a lot of free workshops. He had joined. He told me, “I want to join your program.” I knew him well. I said, “Are you sure?” He said, “When?” I said, “Today. I want to find the money today.” I told him what to do. In half an hour, he called and he was screaming. He goes, “My accountant called me to say that they have doubled the amount that they need to join the program now.” I was like, “This is the first time that someone gets the benefits before they join the program.”
I build relationships with people. I connect truly. I only talk about my program to people who I believe can get all the benefits. I’m cautious with the people that I will offer this program. That’s why I don’t have 1,000 people because this is not this kind of program. I deeply know them and I build relationships with them so I can help them when there is a need. This is what happened in that case. I knew him. He had opened his heart. I knew what his biggest challenge was, so I could help him.
The last time we spoke, your program is full. On top of that, I want to let the audience know that her program is £50,000, but Lia has plans of raising it. I know she’s going to get it.
I am praying every single day that the program becomes better. I am the best version of myself every single day. I’m working with the best in the world. I have been working with myself for several years nonstop. The feedback and testimonials that I get from people who have graduated from the program is that I give more than I promise. I promise a lot and I give more. This is what people say.
It’s true because you think about this right now, especially in the United States, by the time you’re out of college, they’re easy $200,000 in college debt. The audience, I’m letting you guys know if there’s anything you want to invest in, it’s yourself. Here I am putting in front of you a whole season of amazing coaches, people that have gifts like Lia and are able to identify. What I’m saying is these people, especially on my show this season, have done the work. They know who they are. They’re able to have the gift to identify who they can help and who they can’t help. The abundance is the sky is not the limit. It’s true.
I work exactly as you. I say exactly the same that when we had the first interview, we connected. I only work and support people that I truly connect with. I can connect my mission. They can understand that I come from a place of love towards myself first, and then towards all others. You have to give. I help my clients this way. I share my failures, mistakes and wins. They get all this abundance as well. They learn how to operate to support more people.
It’s true though. To the audience, Lia was even saying because I did pre-show interviews for all of the season. Lia was like, “I don’t give pre-show interviews.” It was incredible, the connections that I made with so many people, especially during this season. They were telling me, “Liza, I don’t put in for any podcasts and all this kind of stuff.” I was like, “You are meant to be on this. We’re meant to create a mission together and help each other so we could in turn help humanity.” First and foremost, it’s always anchored in love. Self-love first. It’s only when you love yourself first could you expand and extend it to others in the capacity that it can truly help heal humanity and grow.
You need to have an overflow. You need to be full so much that there is an overflow that you can give. When you give and you take from yourself, this is not true giving. I’m offering in order to feel worthy. This is what matters in my line of work a lot, to help my clients see that they’re not there to run and save others. They are there to listen to and understand others. First and foremost, to listen, love, and unconditionally accept themselves.
Everything I do is based on emotions. I may ask my clients “How do you feel?” 100 times per day. This is the main question, whatever they tell me, “What do you want? How do you feel?” What we want is hard to find. It is powerful. If you don’t truly say what you want, don’t expect to have it. Asking for help is important and waiting to be asked to help. When we wait to be asked, the other person has taken full responsibility for their life. They can identify that they need help and they ask for it.
When we run to save others and help others without being asked, we offer what we believe they need and not what they actually need. The person who is getting the help becomes angry and depressed. They can feel emotions like angriness. They can become furious because the message they get is that they cannot deal with life on their own. One of the main messages I would like to share is to ask for help and don’t give help unless someone asks you to do so.
That’s a powerful message. When you said that earlier, you were saying, when you give of yourself or you offer your help, you have to always remember where it comes from. Does it come from a place of you wanting to be accepted? That was me for my whole life until I finally discovered for myself that I had such a lack of self-love and boundaries. When I learned to create boundaries, my entire universe and my life turned around because what I willed inside of myself now became true outside. People respected my boundaries and my time. I knew what I could give. When I give, I give from a place where it came from overflow, or I could without taking from myself. It’s important.
For me, it was exactly the same story. I felt it was selfish to take care of myself. I would buy things for myself and I would hide them. I wouldn’t say that there were no clothes, for example, because I had grown up to believe that it is selfish to take care of ourselves and to buy nice things for ourselves. I would feel guilty, but now, no.
If you don’t stop trying, you will get there. Click To TweetThat’s a weird thing. We are living on a new Earth, a new world of love and abundance. If we love ourselves, we can love other people. We give them the permission to live in abundance, to have the things that they want. It’s true. Lia, we’ve covered so much of the big mission of this. I know that’s why you’re here, to support Eight Billion. I’m there to support your mission that is anchored in love and all of your life experiences. If this was to be a time capsule and the future generations are here and look back at this interview, what is one thing or a few things that you would like to say to the future generation?
First and foremost, you can do whatever you put your heart to. This is the biggest thing. Dare to imagine and you will make it your reality. You need to believe it. Don’t spend any energy on what other people say. A few days ago, I was interviewed in a group. They told me, “Other people do this and that.” I said, “Yes. Who cares what other people do? You have a mission. You know how to serve your clients. Do it.” Dare to dream without restrictions and limitations. I can guarantee you that if you don’t stop trying, you will get there and you will get success. Believing in you is the second thing. The third and the biggest thing is to love yourself, get to know yourself, and spend some time on your own.
Many people are afraid to do things on their own. I spend three hours every day on my own. I exercise. I walk. I take care of myself. These are three hours for me, not for my family, not for my business. This is important. Ask yourself, do you have exactly what you want? Do you like what you have? We need to give permission to ourselves to stop things that we don’t love and enjoy. We need to connect to our true selves.
Feelings are there to be faced. My dad used to say, “Don’t cry. Don’t be sad.” I would like to say, cry and be sad because it’s the only way to be happy. If you don’t feel sadness and grief, you cannot feel happiness and joy. Remember, all feelings are in your face. If you open the face, you will feel them all. This is the only way to grow. There isn’t any other way. You need to grow and invest in yourself to grow as a human being to understand yourself and unconditionally love yourself before you ask anyone else to love you.
I knew you were speaking from the source and I didn’t want to disturb you because that is beautiful. To the audience, in the last few minutes, you got a taste of what it was like to get coaching from Lia. It’s her life work. It’s true. Everything stems from emotions. It’s all the things we were never taught in school. We were taught to even in fact mask it, but it’s only in feeling it can you release it. It’s only in feeling it would you know what the polar opposite is.
I say that you cannot die from it. Don’t be afraid to fail. You cannot die. If you don’t, you may. If you block it, you feel bloated and you cannot breathe sometimes because you stop it. You don’t accept your truth. If someone asks you, “What’s wrong with you?” and you say, “I’m fine,” but you are angry or upset, you block it. This doesn’t do any good to you. I would like to conclude by saying if we run businesses, if we have families, and if we have friends, we need true relationships to be accepted exactly as we are. In order to do these kinds of relationships, you need to have a true and honest relationship with yourself. When my clients ask things or say, “These guys did that or the other,” I say, “Don’t look at what they do. All arrows should look inside.” In my program, you are the center. The person is the center. As it changes, their life changes.
Do not be afraid to fail, you cannot die from it. Click To TweetThank you, Lia, for your wisdom and your love, most especially. It has been such an absolute pleasure to have you here. It has been an honor, most especially being my first guest from Greece. If anyone is tuning in from Greece, thank you so much for all the love and support. Anyone outside, especially from my audience, please, if there is anyone that is interested in your work to learn more, what is the best way to get ahold of you?
My full name is Lia Zorzou. You can find me on social media. I have a free Facebook group, Intelligent Leaders: Entrepreneurs Who Build Thriving Businesses, that talks a lot about self-awareness and how to lead with increased self-awareness and love.
It is everything, you guys. This is the new world, the new Earth. It’s conscious living anchored in love. We are changing the way we are going to be living as human beings. Lia, thank you so much for your contribution and all of that. I know that this is just the start of your amazing mission.
Thank you so much. I’m honored and proud to be here. Good luck to Eight Billion and you.
Thank you so much. Thank you also to the audience who tuned in to this episode with Lia Zorzou from Greece. We will catch you on the next episode.
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About Lia Zorzou
With a BSc, MSc, PhD in system dynamics, a national 3yr scholarship, two tech start-up awards and more than 20yrs in communication and managing multi million dollar projects Lia had to face a struggle in her life to truly find herself, to find her goal and purpose in life! Now she offers the first experiential emotional intelligence online leadership programme in the world!
She helps you identify what you do that doesn’t serve you and helps you identify how you need to behave to get the results you want!
Her clients lead with confidence and self-awareness, make their annual income monthly, dare to dream and follow their passions, find happiness and the time they crave to spend with loved ones and do what they truly love! They all know, accept and love their true selves! Her programme is experiential, intensive and gets you results from the first week!
When she is not supporting her magnificent clients, Lia with her son and partner in life likes to travel, trek, run and enjoy bike rides by the Mediterranean Sea. A unique fact of her life is that in 2006 she spent 12 months visiting 17 countries mainly trekking in Asia and Latin America and she still has relationships that she nurtures from that trip. She adores honestly connecting with people, especially the ones who have totally different beliefs…she believes this is the only way to learn more about herself and grow every single day.