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Speech Transcript

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L. Scott Ferguson: [00:00:00] Time To Shine Today, Podcast Varsity Squad. It is Scott Ferguson and I’ve been waiting, kind of bated breath to interview my really good friend, Kristen Olson, such a pioneer in her own sense and in her own life of what she did and how she’s grown through marketing, through strategic alliances and partnerships former D1 athlete, CrossFit Games athlete, absolutely stunning woman, just fantastic.

We did a podcast swap so you could probably hop over. To turmeric and tequila, which is an awesome podcast. Don’t go nap because the knowledge nuggets she’s going to drop is absolutely blow your mind. But we’re kind of just kind of, I call her my sister from another Mista. We have so much fun on this show.

I kept her a little bit longer. She’s very like sought after. So she was blessed to stay on with me just a little bit longer, which is so much fun. If somebody that’s really kind of looking to take a next level next step Please share this with them because the knowledge nuggets that going through adversity Absolutely [00:01:00] kicking ass.

Yeah, kristin is the epitome of that So share it with your friend if you like it smash the like button possibly subscribe my sponsors and affiliates absolutely love that So without further ado, here’s my really good friend ko Kristen Olson from the turmeric and tequila podcast, and also KO Alliance.

Let’s level up.

Time to shine today. Podcast varsity squad. This is Scott Ferguson. This one is a long time in coming. I have to throw a huge shout out. Thank you to my really good friend, Fred Fred Moskowitz, who was actually in Palm beach a couple of weeks ago, we had a nice little sit down, talk, chat, coffee, and he introduced me to the fantastic Kristen Olson from KO Alliance, but her podcast don’t go there yet.

But her podcast, Turmeric and Tequila is fantastic. And those are like two of my favorite things in the world. Turmeric I take every morning for, , aches and pains and inflammation. And tequila is not an everyday thing. I don’t kind of wish it was, but it’s as long as a nice high [00:02:00] quality, but she’s a creative coach, athlete, entrepreneur.

Podcaster and kind of most importantly, a puppy mom, , so she who United mission is to driven drive humans to greatness everywhere. She’s seasoned develop seasoned marketing management and brand development, professional culture, marketing, strategic partnership, strategic planning, and get this man.

She’s like, absolutely. If you’re watching Vimeo or YouTube, she’s absolutely stunning, but she’s also a former D one athlete. She’s a CrossFit games athlete. And again, her current podcaster of Turmeric and Tequila and Kristin KO. Thank you so much for coming on. Please introduce yourself to the Time to Shine Today podcast varsity squad.

But first what’s your favorite color and why?

Kristen Olson: Let’s go. My favorite color. We got to go hot pink. A hundred percent. I love it. All things,

L. Scott Ferguson: bright colors. Yeah.

Kristen Olson: We’re here for the energy. You already

L. Scott Ferguson: know. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, Moskowitz put us together and I think we had, we had like a 30 minute conversation schedule.

I think we’d talk [00:03:00] for like an hour and 10 or something, just kind of bouncing stuff off and like, just nice to have that common ground, kind of someone that takes care of themselves, but also builds businesses, so let’s get kind of to the roots of. Of KL, , like Kristen, like Christian also, let’s get to the roots of you.

Cause you’re so impressive. I respect you immensely and I’ve been looking so forward to this conversation. So let’s get to kind of where it started.

Kristen Olson: Yeah, let’s go. Well, thank you for having me. I’m excited to be here. We’re certainly like minded mission driven humans out here, , given where we can and, and, and trying to do the right thing and level up in the meantime.

So I’m the oldest of four. Four, I have three younger brothers. I think that’s a huge piece of my story. I think universe sets you up, , where, , early on with, , whatever the mission is. So learning to not only be a voice, but be a leader in a pack of four where there’s three younger brothers was a lot early on both parents, athletes.

So I grew up in an athletic zone. I played and thankfully, , this was back in eighties, babies, nineties kids, girls, weren’t [00:04:00] doing everything, but with three younger brothers, I got it. Thrown into motocross and lacrosse and gosh, paintball. Like I did everything they did. So it was really cool now to be in.

The era of 2020 for women’s sports are popping off and I’ve been in the mix for so long, so that’s cool. So I just, just got exposed to everything played D on the cross. Didn’t want a boss graduating that had a great experience, but that’s where my entrepreneurship journey started. So as soon as I graduated, started a lacrosse company, did all things, camps, tournaments, team sales, marketing.

We had no money. So we learned about strategic partnerships and got into CrossFit and that popped off. And then. , that’s when KO Alliance became a thing. We started working with athletes and companies and, and making moves and then Tumerkin Tequila was born.

L. Scott Ferguson: That’s fantastic. I got to ask you though, so you’re the oldest of four sibs, the three other sibs, and you’re the, you’re the girl in the family.

So you got away with absolutely nothing, right? I mean, nothing like you were probably kept an eye on you is the boys kept popping out, popping out. , it’s like, [00:05:00] you probably got away with like, you paved the way. And I bet you did your siblings after you kind of have an easier road.

Kristen Olson: Oh my gosh, absolutely.

I, I think my, the parents, I mean, I think, , a boy or a girl, the first sibling, like their parents are figuring it out. Like, what do you just say? Like, they were super strict. And then by like my third brother, the fourth kid, they were like, he was at rated R movies that, , yeah, exactly. It was, it was a total different experience.

So yeah, I think I was given, but that being said, I’m very much a free spirit and a free soul. Like I was. I was the kid that like just got my work done without like micromanagement or helicopter parents Like they were more strict on me But my parents are pretty like hands off as far as like me getting into trouble Like I wasn’t , no angel, but I I handle my business as as a young person That was just something that wasn’t me.

So I didn’t have a lot of structure early

L. Scott Ferguson: Yeah, that’s but you’re always athletic though, right? Oh, yeah. Yeah and motocross you mentioned and stuff like that so with your With the little cross [00:06:00] company, it wasn’t that big, ? ’cause you’re an eighties baby, right? Kind of late seventies, eighties. And again, I’m not gonna say your age ’cause I know you, I’m 43.

Kristen Olson: I, I talked, I know how

L. Scott Ferguson: old you are. I didn’t wanna say it. Now we know you’re 43. You don’t look anything near it. You’re good. So, but. Lacrosse wasn’t exactly that sport then, right? So what kind of ideas did you bring to the forefront that kind of pioneered it to being successful, , aligning with strategic partnerships, like you said, and stuff like that, but what kind of ideas and thoughts were going through your mind as you were launching that?

Kristen Olson: Yeah, I was just a kid that wanted to play. And I, again, my brothers, there’s boys lacrosse first in Colorado. This was not a lacrosse hotbed but a bit, and that’s what I was good at. So I didn’t even, I didn’t even think that I could play lacrosse in college until like my sophomore year, because it was so sparse.

And I was lucky that my pride or my public school happened to have it. It was mostly like a. private school sport. It’s wealthy white people, , there’s limited access to lacrosse and it’s changed over the years, but not a ton. So I was really privileged in that again, my public school had [00:07:00] it. And then I had the opportunity to go with travel teams.

There wasn’t even really competitive teams back in the day. So, so I, , ended up turning down certain scholarships because I wanted to go D1 top 20 and walked onto a team. I often say my, my younger self was more of like a gangster than my 43 year old self. Cause I just, I didn’t care. I had something to prove.

I believed in myself and I just risked it all. So I walked onto, I think George Mason university was like 11th at the time. And again, I’m a Colorado kid. So the level of East coast play was far beyond where I was at. Yeah. Yeah. So that year was just like a major ego check, which I was prepared for. I knew I wasn’t going to be the best, but I knew that I could be some of my sophomore year.

I was a team captain. And , and then I tore my ACL. So it was like some ups and downs, but excellent life journey early on graduating. I was like, we got to get, , lacrosse out here in Colorado and taking me to Japan and Prague and all over the world. I’m like, I want this to be more than just a wealthy white person sport.

Like let’s facilitate a way to bring this. Sport to anyone that wants to play because it had provided so much for my life. And this is before any conversation on [00:08:00] diversity inclusion or anything like that. It was just something I was passionate about early on,

L. Scott Ferguson: but like, was the internet wasn’t even really that big, , at that time.

So how did you really get people to say, okay, lacrosse is something that I want to get my kids into, or, , what was, what was your kind of like slogan or something that really got people excited?

Kristen Olson: Well, , innovation is born out of necessity. So I had no money, limited resources, and just, just a passion for the game.

So this is where creative strategy, , air quotes started to come into play where I started reaching, , I didn’t want the mammoth and the professional teams were coming out here in Colorado. Camps were like six to eight hundred bucks twenty years ago, and it just wasn’t accessible for a lot of people and even if families did well, it was hard to get in any experience in lacrosse, so that’s when I hit up like companies like Cliff Bar, and I’m like, , if you pay us to help, , distribute bars and be like, kind of like your marketing team, I can then go into like field days at schools where marketing companies can’t go, we can bring Cliff Bars, we save them from buying popsicles for their field day, and then we get to take like an hour of [00:09:00] their field day and teach them Everybody lacrosse.

So I just started doing this creative strategy because I had no money, a good amount of time. And then, , just, , if there’s a will, there’s a way we just started doing stuff. And that whole process formalized into what now is KO Alliance, where we can do this creative strategy work with what we got.

But really like we figure out when we start with the mission first, my mission then was to facilitate lacrosse and expose it. And then we build everything else around that fast forward 20 years, we’re doing the same exact thing.

L. Scott Ferguson: Wow. So where did this lateral thinking come from? , there’s no black and white to say, and I’m going to go to cliff bars and, , do that because that’s something like, you’re like my sister from another mister, because that’s exactly how I think.

Right. So like, I mean, like, okay. Case in point, I had a, there’s this dude, Eric Wharton and never forget the guy. He had a Detroit free press paper route, right? And he was just like, I’m getting out of, he turned like 15. He’s like, I’m out of the paper route business and stuff. But he had a route that was paying him like 25 bucks a month, man.

This is like 1985, right? And so I’m like, So like, and [00:10:00] people are like, Oh, do this. And I’m like, dude, I’ll give you five bucks a month for the next year. What I’m saying? Then I took it and expanded the route and stuff. So where did that come from? Are you entrepreneurial parents or the need to survive because you had three brothers breathing down your neck?

Like, where’d that come from?

Kristen Olson: , I’ve thought about this a lot and I, that’s why, , The base of the podcast, it’s this juxtaposition, like questioning a better way because I didn’t, I wasn’t used to authority. Like again, my family, like they had rules and stuff, but I was kind of like, do your work, get your work done.

Like I was very focused in sports was my accountability. Like I knew I was always behind if I was going to go play lacrosse in top 20, , I’m a, I’m a Midwest kid that has not been exposed. My lacrosse coach played softball. So I always had this mentality of being like a little bit behind. So I knew I had to always work harder.

So I was like, costly, like cutting corners of, okay, well, if I can just eat a little bit better, that will help if I can train. a little more, that will help. And I was just sort of solving these problems early on because I didn’t have solutions at hand or really accessibility. And I just kind of worked with, and on the flip side, just genetically [00:11:00] personality, I never really fit in.

My way of thinking was never really like anyone else. So even if it, it wasn’t necessarily like to be better or to make money or whatever, I just, my train of thought never really seemed to fit in what everybody else was doing. And, , my. Blonde, white female with white privilege. Like you can chameleon relatively easy in, especially in 2024 and back then.

But like my mindset never was really like, I’m like everyone else in my high school. I’m like, I always felt like I was kind of different. And then long term that different way of thinking just happened to serve me. I just found a way to a solution that no one else was. Doing like even in math, like longhand division and stuff.

For some reason, I was always just doing it my way versus like the prescribed way. And that does not always serve you. Sometimes that’s the long road, but just the way I am, I have, I always just found my way to solution versus this, , more traveled path that everyone else has. Has done. And it sounds like a cool story, but , that’s just really actually the way it was.

I just had this, my way of doing things.

L. Scott Ferguson: But you’re, you’re still kind of an anomaly of the people that are out there. And I’m glad that you [00:12:00] said that your own way can be the long way. So you kind of try it and that’s where like coaches and mentors come in really key for you to like the people that actually care about your success.

Right? So then let’s do a little dive into what was the birth of Turmeric and Tequila. I mean, your podcast is awesome, but like, where, where did this juxtaposition to use your word here to think of a better way? Like, where did that kind of come from?

Kristen Olson: Yeah, so it was super interesting, , again, I think on my podcast I say God, Universe, Madonna, whatever you believe.

We can be intentional humans. We can be out here with a plan and, , we’re motivated and some things are just like in the stars and they’re just working out for you and like things are conspiring in your favor. You gotta have the right attitude, but you gotta show up. Some things are just. Bigger and we don’t control that much.

So it was funny that, , Instagram and social media was starting to pop off. When I was a coach for, I was a varsity head coach for lacrosse at a local high school here for nine season, 10 years. And this was a time when social media was starting to grow. So here I was on marketing branding time, working with big companies.

[00:13:00] I’m in health and wellness. I’m in CrossFit. Everyone’s, , naked and it’s sexy and they’re fun. So I’m doing a lot of marketing with that. Lots of companies love to be in health and wellness. And so my marketing company, we had always done strategic partnerships, a. k. a. like, influencers because we didn’t have a ton of money.

So we were working with, or we were working with all the startups, , key computer offense, or so we would. , get coaches or leaders or coaches. Business owners and then, seed them or get them to align with companies. Well, when Instagram took off brand ambassadors was the formal version of that.

So we were already doing it. The kicker was that as the social media took off, it was a lot more smoke and mirrors. We’ve got filters changing bodies. We’ve got products and supplements and companies saying they’re doing things. Yeah. Yeah. That, that they’re not in. We didn’t have as much of a conscious consumer as we do now.

So I felt, , if, , I’m an old school philosophy fan, but like, if reality is nothing more than applied meaning, if you’re not a philosophy fan to sum it up, it’s the suffer. So we’re kind of just navigating our backward. , our way backwards of like, how do we be happy? But if all of our reality is coming through our phone, marketing and branding and humans [00:14:00] are a big part of like how we’re digesting this world.

So I felt very compelled as a marketing person to really start working with intentional mission driven companies and humans, but really telling the truth. I was managing influencers and brand ambassadors that were on the cover of women’s health, but I knew they had disordered eating and I was working with companies.

That had not so great ingredients, but they’re barking it as, , a health and wellness product. And and I still filtered out everyone I worked with, but as you dug in, it was hard to get to the truth until you were already in it. So long story short, I was like, if I’m part of this, I’m seeing my young women digest their reality through this, like as a.

We got to just start telling the truth. I don’t know how it is, but, or what the path is, but I’m, , podcasting. This thing looks cool. I think I’m just going to get on the mic and get the brand ambassadors and key voices that I’m working with on the mic to fully tell their story and even the ones that don’t want to be influencers, but have these incredible stories, especially in CrossFit, there’s.

Tons of hidden, incredible leaders, just come on, because I want to facilitate this opportunity for our young people to hear good people doing good things. [00:15:00] I don’t know how it’s going to work. So I was like, let’s just letting it be all out there. Tumeric and tequila. I’m here for the fitness and the health and the wellness.

And I love social. I love party. I love fun. Like these seemingly opposing things can harmoniously exist. Coexist and those are the stories I wanted to share because I wanted our all people but young people in particular To see like you don’t have to do it everyone else’s way you can be Different things and still head towards a common goal.

You can listen to different opinions You can do things your way you can do the blah blah blah But here’s examples of people doing this and like here’s the content and proof that you don’t have to fit in this box In the endgame of that is community and mental health. So like, you’re not driving to be something.

You’re not, you can be all these different things. And again, these are humans and examples of it. So the podcast was born just out of, let’s get, let’s highlight the truth and show examples of this. I’m not just telling you that’s the truth. Here’s people actually live in it.

L. Scott Ferguson: So when you bring people on to the show as guests and whatnot, like how vetted are they, because you seem to like, you’re like, Oh, this person was on the cover of [00:16:00] this woman’s magazine, but I knew that she was.

Blemick or whatever. You didn’t say what she was, but , like how, how deep do you kind of vet your people, , without crossing a line of like, dude, get away from me kind of thing. What I’m saying? Like, what do you do?

Kristen Olson: Well, so even we’ve had our companies even, and even clients where we take on, like, I’m very intentional about mission driven humans and companies.

So we do our research and. And this day and age you can find a lot out on the internet. You don’t even have to internet, like you can get to the truth and you can, and a lot of it’s intuition and vibe. Like, , quantum physics, I was listening to a great podcast. It’s like, we’ve got all this science and proof and Sir Isaac Newton proved this and it’s, , order to our universe.

Energy. Well, , E equals MC squared. It’s Einstein’s thing, energy and matter are coexisting. So, so much of science data interview pregame, that’s great. A lot of it’s intuition and energy and just vibing and, and trusting, what’s there. And, , we’ve run laps in this game, so you can get a vibe on people pretty fast.

But podcasting wise, I’m very thankful that I exist in a world through fitness, through my marketing, through just friendships that come in, , to my life vibe attracts the [00:17:00] tribe. I have good people coming in. So a lot of it. Oh my God, I trained with you. I know you do this. You’ve got this company and you give 10 percent back to veterans because you’re a former Navy SEAL.

Like I have people that are in my orbit, so I bring them in organically. And if I have to, I do some digging, but most, , thankfully a lot of it comes in pretty organically at this point. And we have a quick conversation. I don’t even like. Pre interview or anything. I just dig out and let it be kind of like, like Andy Cohen, like it’s just what happens live.

So that’s what I hope that makes sense.

L. Scott Ferguson: People come in, they’ll want to send me like a book for their bio. And I’m like, dude, I’m not reading that thing. Like I, and I don’t look at anybody’s stuff and I’m sorry if I’m offending any of my guests. Like, I don’t look at anybody’s stuff really until. One, I, I make sure they’re not criminals or something like that or have something going on with that.

Like, but I have a team that does that, but like, I don’t, like Larry King is something I actually got to meet that dude, like when I was young. Right. And he’s, he’s just like, did I [00:18:00] haven’t read anybody’s books until after I talked to him, , it’s like, I’d want to get to know the person. , and then, , for my own thoughts, and that’s why he’s one of the best interviewers ever.

Graham Bensinger, same thing. He interviews all the athletes, , he flies blind on a lot of his stuff. And I’m glad that you do your research, but you make it really organic, which is why you’re fricking top two and a half percent in the world, , on the turmeric and tequila. So, , What challenges do you think that you learn the most from while building your businesses?

Like what, what’s really comes to mind. You’re like, dude, I kicked ass on that. Like, this is something that I made it through push through, like what were really stands out.

Kristen Olson: Man, all of it. It’s funny, , because we are, we’re intentional humans, we know how to work hard, we’re disciplined, focus on a goal and you do need things around you.

Like God, universe Madonna, like things have to be happening that you can’t control kind of alongside your intentional mission. Like you, , like I’m an advocate for women in sports, like [00:19:00] athletics has provided so much for my life. Title nine is huge. And you now come to my podcast has always been focusing on that, but look.

At the space of our world, no part of me could ever have controlled how big women’s sports would be in 2024, the success of the WNBA, social media popping up for these young stars. Like I couldn’t have controlled any of that, but how beautiful is it? This is lining right as my podcast is moving. And now we can like coexist and help facilitate this larger message about women’s sports collectively.

So I think a big challenge for me in the beginning, and even now a practice of just letting go, like believing, showing up, doing the training, doing everything I can do. And then also just having like straight up blind faith. God universe Madonna is going to show up and like the timing is going to be good.

And like, all these things are going to come together that I can’t control. And early on, again, we’re trained to like do everything you think you can control this stuff and you, and you really can’t. So my biggest piece of my young people is just the discipline, like the, the training in, , , going D one, walking onto a team where I didn’t belong, but I knew I could be there.

And then training at the, in competing at the CrossFit [00:20:00] games and, , being taken off a team at one point, like all of these things were training me right now to be the best version of myself. So I can share the gospel, , on the podcast, like everything’s been training us up to this point for that next big thing, whatever it might be.

I was just training to go to the games. I was training to win a D one championship, but in the scheme of things, who cares about all that? I’ve been doing something. , it’s bigger now, which I’m sure you identify with, like suicide prevention and positive impact. Like, it’s way bigger than our personal agenda.

L. Scott Ferguson: Absolutely. And you started something that was pretty rare in Colorado that I’m sure has grown. Thousand fold since you kind of started. I mean the air is thin there. I mean, I love playing golf in colorado I mean, I feel like freaking tiger, right, , but i’m sure people might just come there to train For the acclimation and getting better lungs and you’re kind of like a pioneer there You won’t toot your own horn, but i’m i’m seeing that is happening and I have did a little bit of research on you So I kind of know this, , which is huge props to you.

So have you seen the movie back to the future?

Kristen Olson: Of course. Yeah, [00:21:00] let’s

L. Scott Ferguson: let’s get that Delorean with Marty McFly, right? Let’s go back to the double deuce, the 22 year old Kristen. What kind of knowledge nuggets would you drop on her not to change anything? Because you’re, , everything your trajectory and all that stuff has been pretty freaking awesome, right?

But what might you drop on her to maybe help her shorten the learning curve or maybe blast through maybe just a little bit quicker?

Kristen Olson: Man, I say this and this is ironic because we’re podcasters and we’re voices or speakers. I would say I didn’t, I didn’t listen to a lot. Like I was so focused on what I wanted and I was not even the person that’s like, I want to be a lawyer and , get married and have three kids and like have this like very intentional trajectory.

I just knew I wanted my freedom to build the ability to make choices. And then I just wanted to do something big. And I didn’t, I couldn’t articulate that. I couldn’t explain it. And that drove a lot of like contention within me. Like, What in the fuck am I doing? Like, where am I going? What is this? And I would tell my young self, you don’t need to have it figured out.

Like, just keep showing up. You’re working towards something [00:22:00] and it’s happening. Podcasting was not a thing then. Like, what I do now, the marketing, branding, Instagram wasn’t a thing. Nothing I was going to do was a thing. thing yet. So I would just tell that young person, like, relax, keep following your intuition or what you enjoy or what inspires you.

Don’t worry about what everyone else is saying. Don’t listen. Like everything, like I have a podcast and I’m telling you, I mean, I’m inviting you to come listen, but reality young people trust your gut. Don’t listen to what everyone is telling you to do. Just go do your thing and have the faith. I had such blind naive faith of it.

I was going to want to win a D one championship and then I’m walking into the CrossFit games and , a lot of stuff I didn’t have any experience in, but I knew I could do the work. I knew I had something big within.

L. Scott Ferguson: Yeah,

Kristen Olson: and it kind of seems to just save the road, like, listen, get Intel where you can, but even if you’re doing the long road, trust yourself, don’t listen to what everyone else has to say

L. Scott Ferguson: in squad.

Also, she’s kind of saying that, like, , if you don’t know something, look for that person that you might want to emulate and get your asking gear and ask them. What I’m saying, right? I mean, there’s people there and I’m sure that you did ask you, you saw them. They’re doing it. Cause I, , I coached the [00:23:00] plus equals minus, like on a consistent basis, , KO where like every day I want to find someone to emulate and learn from.

I don’t care if I read something in a book about them and pick up a step. And then equals is like, you and I, we rap, we bounce stuff off each other. And also we send that elevator down on the minus side. To pull people up that they might emulate us. Right. , it’s, it’s super important. Which I know you give back, , so I’m glad you put that out there.

So how does Kristen want her dash remembered that little line in between your incarnation date and your expiration date, your life date and death date. Hopefully it’s way freaking down the line. ’cause the world needs you. But how do you want your dash to remember? I hope so.

Kristen Olson: Well, yeah, I got to echo your statements.

Get up, get around people that are better than you. Period. That’s why I love CrossFit. Like keep the water level high and you, you, you’re on people doing big things. You’re going to do big things, period. So whether it’s coaching or competing or something, get around someone that, that identifies with your mindset and then, and yeah, get, get around, , someone that can help facilitate that process.

The dash for me would be I love the quote. I’d rather be said he lived usefully [00:24:00] than died. Rich Benjamin Franklin, I think it is. Yeah. And then, and then Madonna, , I didn’t start seeing because I had the best voice I started seeing, cause I had something to say, but somewhere in between Madonna and Benjamin Franklin is where I would exist of like, I, it’s very important to me that however much time I do have, I’m useful in this world.

And I I’m used up the bill where there’s the song used me up. I love, I keep that in the back of my mind just because we’re here to be used. So like you, like whatever, however you can be useful to this world, that’s important to me. And that kind of sums up being a teammate, being a facilitator just doing good things.

L. Scott Ferguson: A lot of people ask me what my, why and my purposes is to be useful. That’s it. That’s, that’s my answer. , it’s the bottom line. I, , I want to exist. I want to thrive, but I also want to be there to serve, ? Yeah. So. What do you think people misunderstand the most about Kristin?

Kristen Olson: Ah, that’s a, that’s a powerful question because I think, , as I’ve done my own work, coaching, therapies, all the things being in human optimization, health and wellness, I always have to go through brain training and they’re like, [00:25:00] I test all this stuff.

So I always think universe set me up. Like if my stubborn self would not have done some of these things to level up, I’m going to do it for work. Cause I can’t promote something I’ve not done or work with something I’m

L. Scott Ferguson: not

Kristen Olson: done. So in, in all of that, it’s, kind of like, what are we, what are we doing and how?

And un, unpacking that is kind of always gone back to just like chasing the passion and aligning with people that you, , you really care about and and, and want to be like, and then just letting, , , things unfold. Does that answer your question? Absolutely.

L. Scott Ferguson: 100 percent man. So,

Kristen Olson: okay.

L. Scott Ferguson: Yeah. Because , some people, they way misunderstand me too. They think that I’m a huge extrovert, dude. I love my time. Absolutely. I’m sure you’re kind of an introvert as well. Like I think that you love your Exactly. Yeah. So then what, what, in a sentence, what is your definition of success?

Kristen Olson: Success? Well, I think that can play to being like misunderstood.

I think, I think every human, the major point of mental health, [00:26:00] like the, the, the rub there is being misunderstood in general, whatever way that goes, which is generally speaking, I think we want to be accepted and understood in community. Yeah. So I think the success piece to me would play into like, being understood, I don’t know if that matters to me because I think people look at my life and they’re like, , I don’t, I don’t, we don’t really know you, we sort of get your business, we see you out here, , you’re not married, you’re 43, you can read and you can put on, , brush your hair, like, what’s going on there?

Let’s get these like kind of base level questions. We don’t necessarily understand. So I’m okay with not being fully understood. And I’d love for people to be like, okay with that within themselves. Like not everyone needs to understand you on the flip side. I think you are a success when someone can relate to you.

And perhaps that is in also being misunderstood. So when you can relate to someone or someone can relate to you and somehow your journey helps theirs or streamlines their processes or inspires that to me is success for my, that that’s useful to me. So being useful is my success. So. Ironically, if that misunderstanding helps someone else identify with me and my [00:27:00] journey because they feel misunderstood, that’s a, that’s a success point to me.

L. Scott Ferguson: I love that you align success with being useful. , that’s, that’s huge. Like, I, like, I get asked that sometimes. Like, Live in a life of options and not obligations. That’s, that’s the one thing we all want our freedom. And they, you are the epitome of someone seeing that and going, she’s doing her thing, she’s paving her stuff.

And that’s impressive, especially as a woman, what I’m saying? No, no downplay against a woman, but especially as a woman, , and you’re out there, you’re owning it. That that’s absolutely beautiful. So how about, I’m going to ask you another definition. Like what is KO’s definition of a life well lived?

Kristen Olson: Or did you already answer it? I mean, somewhat, yeah, I, I mean, so again, the juxtaposition, like, I, I’m a serious, intense person when I compete, like, don’t fuck with me when it comes to competing, like, and I don’t always win, I’ve gotten run over a ton, and, like, I’m going to show up and, like, I have a whole different, like, business competitivism, on the flip side, I’m [00:28:00] so laid back, I’m just, , way chill when it comes to so many things, so Yeah, it’s somewhere in like in between there and it kind of goes back to success of like, you got to just be intentional with your life and your journey, but enjoy the ride.

Like you got to have fun and just be okay with like ups and downs, but like find a way to enjoy it. Like our lives are not that long. We’re a blip on the radar.

L. Scott Ferguson: Blip. Yeah.

Kristen Olson: Enjoy it, man. Find a way to have fun.

L. Scott Ferguson: To live a million hours. You think million is not that much anymore in our range of things. That’s 114 years old, , to live that like that’s, that’s crazy, right?

So maybe it’s minutes. I don’t know. One of those. It’s not that it’s a longer time. You’re not here that long, ? .

Time to shine today. Podcast versus squad. We are back and KO when I make it out to Colorado we’ll definitely hook up for maybe a Bev, , in some tumeric or whatnot. But and I’ll talk about some of these questions you and I would probably rattle on. Cause like, I would, I would hate to meet you [00:29:00] at a networking event, because I think both of us are more interested in other people’s stories than telling ours.

Right. So we’d be asking questions of each other all night. We’d be a terrible date. But no, seriously, like today you got five seconds to answer them with no explanations and they can all be answered that way. You ready to go on the clock and level up?

Kristen Olson: Let’s go.

L. Scott Ferguson: Let’s go. All right. Kale, what is the best leveling up advice you’ve ever received?

Just do it. Love it. Share one of your personal habits that contributes to success.

Kristen Olson: Work out every single day or find a way to work it out at least three to five days a week.

L. Scott Ferguson: Love it. So you see me walk down the street and Fergie looks like he’s in his doldrums a little bit, or maybe I’m at an event or something.

What book might you hand me that really helps you turn a corner?

Kristen Olson: Ooh honestly, probably not a book. I I’m big on music. I think music is energy and relation. I’d say go turn on your favorite music.

L. Scott Ferguson: Love it. Great answer, by the way. [00:30:00] Fantastic. Most commonly used emoji when you text.

Kristen Olson: Oh, shoot. I would say I mean, me and my mom use the red balloon.

So we’re always doing that, which is funny. But probably the hands up or the smiley with a kiss.

L. Scott Ferguson: Love it. Nicknames growing up. I

Kristen Olson: actually didn’t have any. Oh, I was Olson in lacrosse. Oh, L S O N of last name. And then CrossFit, there was another Kristen. So I was KO and KO stuck. So I only had nicknames as an adult.

L. Scott Ferguson: Love it. Love it. Any hidden talents and or superpowers that you have that nobody knows about? Well, until now

Kristen Olson: I don’t, I mean that competitive zone, I’ve, I can stay in it. Like I’m very good almost to a fault of just, yeah, just shutting off and, and staying in it. And then in intuition, I don’t know.

I’m learning that as I grow up, I think we’re all intuitive adults, but there’s something larger going on that I’m trying to figure out what to further connect with.

L. Scott Ferguson: Love it. Headline for your life.

Kristen Olson: I had a blast.

L. Scott Ferguson: There you go. Chess checkers are monopoly.

Kristen Olson: What’d you say? It was last. I couldn’t

L. Scott Ferguson: monopoly.

Chess checkers are monopoly. [00:31:00]

Kristen Olson: Ooh. My gut says checkers. I love Monopoly. I like real estate, but we used to get in like full on family fights. Yeah, dude, I’d fight because everyone’s so freaking competitive. Yeah, I

L. Scott Ferguson: would fight you so hard if we played. Anyways. , go to ice cream flavor. We’ll see.

Kristen Olson: Go to ice cream flavor.

For sure, like chocolate covered cherry. I like fruit again. And then you add in like the chocolate of some sort of sweet. So love it. Chocolate covered cherry. Build a sandwich for me. That’s called the KO build that sandwich. Hey, , we got to go protein heavy here. So we probably have turkey lettuce, tomato.

Oh, good. I would use apple cider vinegar cause it’s healthier than regular vinegar. I’m not a big dairy person. Mayo, mustard, pickle on the side. I don’t know something. I’m I, I eat though. I fuel. So it would be a significant sandwich. And then if we could, if it’s a good gluten free bread, we’d go with that.

L. Scott Ferguson: Any man candy on there? Any bacon?

Kristen Olson: We could do, we could do bacon for sure.

L. Scott Ferguson: Turkey bacon can’t beat it. I love it. Favorite charity and or organization you like to give your time and or money to?

Kristen Olson: Oh man, we got a couple amazing local ones. Again, my fitness humans are Sovarsity. Holy Kicks out here in Colorado.[00:32:00]

They’re walking alongside humans in economic disparity and experiencing homelessness. They go, they’ve given out like, I think it’s over 10, 000 pairs of shoes. They’re incredible. Oh my gosh, there’s so many, the do more charity challenges coming up. It’s an event where they give out every team can play on behalf of their charity.

And they’ve worked with tons of Travis Banyan foundation, helping with veterans and their families. They’re amazing. I actually knew him in college. So everything I’m like socially connected, I know the humans that there’s a lot of them, but those are two or three big ones.

L. Scott Ferguson: Very cool. Very cool. Last question.

Best decade of music, sixties, seventies, eighties, or nineties.

Kristen Olson: 80s, 90s, probably early 2000s. I’m adding that in. Anything Whitney, Britney, Madonna, pop, I’m your girl.

L. Scott Ferguson: All right. Awesome. So how can we find you love?

Kristen Olson: Yes. Come through everything. Social. My personal Instagram is Madonna’s hero. Obviously we’re a huge Madonna’s fan.

So we’d like to think that I’m her hero. She, she heard that she probably hate that, but anyways KO Alliance, anything at KO Alliance, koalliance. com and [00:33:00] turmeric tequila. We’re turmeric tequila on Instagram, com. If you Google any of those things, we’ll pop up on everything. We are highly accessible.

So feel free to DM, reach out, reach out. Like we are. We’re out here and we’re connected to our community. It’s not AI

L. Scott Ferguson: responses. No, man.

Kristen Olson: We’re out here. We don’t do any of that. I’m not, we’re trying to stay as old school as possible, music, heart and soul as we can. So no, we’re, we’re in it and we’re accessible for the long term.

And I just brought two people on intentionally. So, so we have, we’re staying with that human connect community is our end game. So we’re going to, we’re out here for you.

L. Scott Ferguson: I love it. And you’re gonna, when I was in the military and I was stationed seal beach on Coronado, right? , the, the certain lady came out and played music and her team was like, Hey, , you got an iron, , to iron clothes.

And I’m like, yeah. So I like ran, And got an iron came in. There’s Madonna and she gave me a kiss on the cheek.

Kristen Olson: What? You just, you’re just now telling me this story? Yeah, I did not know this. Let’s go. That’s a flex. That’s amazing. That

L. Scott Ferguson: is pretty cool. And being from Michigan and her being from [00:34:00] Michigan, like she rapped with me for like, I was only, this is 93.

20 or 21. And like she rapped for like 10 minutes. She’s like, Oh, it’s from Warren. I’m like, I know where Warren’s it was, it was kind of cool and stuff. So yeah, there’s a lot of troops there. What’s that? No, no. This part right here, you

Kristen Olson: never wash your cheek. Nope. Yeah,

L. Scott Ferguson: this part. Never. I should’ve got like a tattoo, right?

It was pretty awesome. I

Kristen Olson: feel like she would have loved that.

L. Scott Ferguson: Probably, probably. So. Do me one last solid and leave us with one last knowledge nugget we can take with us, internalize, and take action on.

Kristen Olson: I, this is so cheesy and it’s something we used to say like in college that was so basic but it was dream, believe, achieve.

I really think, and I would say this to our young people like, Dream of something and then having your in the back knowing that like whatever you dream of if you just Show up and do the best you can like it can be even bigger than what you’re dreaming really focus on the mental like believe it [00:35:00] be conscious of how you talk to yourself the people you surround yourself with And and then have this mind’s eye of of really achieving it and knowing that it can happen There’s like I said, you can do everything intentional and things will fall through and not go the way you wanted and And that’s always good.

Cause it can be bigger than what you think. And like, , the way the world’s going, we’ll be right on time with whatever it is that you’re supposed to be doing and what you need to be doing. So just keep showing it up and, and believe in it, do worry about what you can love that you say

L. Scott Ferguson: that just keep showing up, being consistent.

Cause , like I, I will never stand out on the 18th green over a putt to win the masters. , I will never be in the bottom of the ninth, but I have been in front of. 15, 000 people speaking. And it took me probably 47 pro bono speeches, , to just get there. And then they put me up there.

I was pooping my pants. Don’t get me wrong, but it’s something that, like you said, you stay the course inch by inch, it’s a cinch, right? By the yard, it’s hard, like, just keep going and keep going and squad. I had the most fun. I knew this was going to be just straight fire with my good friend, , KO [00:36:00] that she believes in, , like minded driven humans and the vibe will attract your tribe.

Like get around those people. , this universe sets you up for what the mission is going to be. She reminded us. , she’s a free spirit, free soul, leans into challenges, and she believed in herself. That’s why she made the trek out to the east coast where lacrosse is just straight fire, and she made the team.

She was out there killing it, right? She’s a total lateral thinker. Like, that is the most attractive thing about any human being on the earth, is that they think, not, I’m not saying, Get outside the box squad. I’m saying to or get outside your comfort zone. I’m saying just stretch it Just keep stretching and stretching what she did with the cliff bars To be able to go out there and say I will market your company if you strategically align And she used the word juxtaposition a lot, really to think a better way, , sometimes You don’t get to the truth until you’re already in it.

That was something she said that just really blew my mind She wants you to really control the controllables. Well, the rest of it. Just [00:37:00] let it go It’s just gonna weigh on your mind It’s you’re not gonna really be able to produce anything trying to control something that you absolutely Can’t control and you don’t have to have it all figured out.

She reminded us, , just but If you don’t know something like my good friend, Leah Woodford reminds me all the time, get your asking gear. There’s people out there that want to give you the answer. , she wants to be remembered as someone that lived youthfully and died rich, but also had her voice heard.

, that’s one thing. She’s planting trees that she’s never going to sit in the shade of, right? She does shit for the intention, not the attention. You don’t see, see her saying, look at me, look at me. I’m KO. She gets out there. She got ran over. Quite a bit in her life. But when she failed, she pulled, , a Barry Sanders, the best running back ever to play football.

She failed forward. He lost so many yards, but he always so feel forward. And that’s what my good friend ko does. You want you to again, again, it’s cliche, but dream, believe and achieve, show up, be very careful about what you say to yourself, you feed yourself that [00:38:00] positive role. Positive mental attitude, get around people that will do that for you.

I promise you, you will succeed. Like my good friend, , Kristen does. She loves upper health. She’d level up her wealth. She’s absolutely stunning. She’s humble yet hungry. Not that she needs another varsity letter, but she wanted her varsity letter here from time to shine today. Thank you so much for coming on KO.

I absolutely love your guts and I cannot wait to collaborate with you in the future.

Kristen Olson: Let’s go. Thank you for having me.

L. Scott Ferguson: Chat soon.

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