Rise From The Ashes
"Burnout to Brilliance: Great CEOs, No Burnout"
Leadership is tough. Burnout makes it tougher.
But it doesn’t have to be that way. Rise From The Ashes is the ultimate podcast for visionary CEOs and executives who refuse to let burnout rob them of their brilliance, legacy, and impact.
Hosted by Baz Porter, this show isn’t just about surviving leadership it’s about transforming it. Each week, we delve deep into the art and science of thriving at the top, combining actionable strategies, spiritual alignment, and raw truths that reignite your purpose and optimize your energy.
Here’s what you’ll get:
- Bold Frameworks: Learn the exact steps to conquer decision fatigue, streamline your mental energy, and reclaim control of your leadership.
- Spiritual Awakenings: Explore the intersection of purpose, alignment, and success to lead with clarity and connection.
- Transformational Insights: Hear unfiltered stories and practical wisdom from world-class leaders who’ve turned their burnout into brilliance.
This isn’t just a podcast it’s a revolution for leaders ready to rise, inspire, and leave a legacy that outlasts them.
Rise From The Ashes
Michelle Blood’s Anthem of Resilience and Transformation (Part 1)
What if the key to resilience and transformation lies in the untold story of a rock star? Michelle Blood’s journey is nothing short of extraordinary. From commanding the stage as an ‘80s rock icon to overcoming a life-altering accident that redefined her purpose, Michelle turned adversity into an anthem of personal and spiritual transformation. In this electrifying episode, she shares the highs and lows of her music career, the power of inner growth, and the art of thriving through life’s toughest challenges.
🎁 Exclusive Free Gifts for Listeners:
- Rise Above with Michelle Blood: Click here for free gifts
- World’s First Manifestation Video Book: Access the videos here
🎧 Listen now to uncover the ultimate blueprint for resilience, transformation, and unlocking your true potential.
Friends, as our time together comes to a close, I want to express my deepest gratitude. Thank you for joining me on this bold journey of self-discovery and leadership. My mission is to help you rise from burnout to brilliance, because Great CEOs deserve No Burnout.
If this episode struck a chord with you, please share it with someone who could use its message. Together, we can spark a revolution in leadership, one conversation at a time.
I’d love to hear from you whether it’s your biggest aspirations, your toughest challenges, or the lessons you’re uncovering. My door is always open, physically in Boulder or digitally at www.ramsbybaz.com.
Ready to take things deeper?
If you’re tired of confusion and craving clarity on your path to purpose, let’s work together.
Visit my site and schedule a coaching session to discover how the RAMS framework transforms results, breaks limits, and builds legacies.
This is Baz Porter, signing off with immense gratitude. Stay bold, stay true, and remember you always have a partner in your corner who knows the weight you carry and the greatness you’re capable of.
Until next time, keep rising.
ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to another episode of rise from the ashes a burnout to brilliance. This is season five and my next guest is a literal rock star. That's where she started. Her name is michelle blood and she's an awesome human being, transformational leader, and she's inspiring to create change around billions of people in the world. Michelle, welcome to Roast from the Ashes. It is a privilege and an honor to have you here. I know your schedule is extremely busy, but it's, as I said, a brilliant time to have you this Christmas Eve, since we're filming it. Please introduce yourself to the world and tell people who you are.
Speaker 2:Thank you, bez. As we say in Australia, g'day Bazza. Yes, I love this time of the year it's beautiful, I've got all the lights along my footpath that's glowing at night and even though I don't have any neighbors, I enjoy them because I live in quite solitude, which is awesome. But yeah, I was in a rock band in Australia for many years. I was singing professionally since the age of five on TV and what happened to me was it was interesting because I don't think people really understand, baz, what it's like to be in a rock band.
Speaker 2:I was the lead singer, one of the main songwriters, the manager of the band, and to get gigs to start with and then to get a record contract In Australia back in the 80s, you had to have a huge audience that came to see you before you think a record company would even look at you. It was really quite fascinating, and it's not these days where you can self-publish and put songs on iTunes yourself. It was really challenging back then and we gigged at one stage for seven years non-stop and supported some pretty big bands like the Pretenders, georgia Satellites that came out from America, and until we ended up getting our own support bands because we were getting bigger and bigger. But then after all those years of just getting all the videos out and everything I had, what would look like to some people the worst thing that could ever happen to a young Australian female singer who'd worked so hard all her life to get to where she was. It was a car accident and it was actually a truck.
Speaker 2:I was a passenger with the truck driver. We were driving from brisbane to sydney in australia, so you know that's a long trek, right, and that back in the day we didn't have proper highways. It was just a normal two-lane road, pretty rough back then the roads in australia, and we finally, after about 14 hours, whatever it was got to Sydney. But he fell asleep at the wheel and we had a horrific accident. He was fine, which is amazing, but as the passenger because he went into a pole, a lot of the musical equipment and we've got big double, huge speakers and everything Everything crushed me.
Speaker 2:I was crushed and my body was completely destroyed and smashed bones everywhere. Probably never, if I was lucky to get through the night I would. I'm pretty sure I'd never walk again and all this sort of thing. But I was in that hospital for months and months and months, many long operations. I won't go into all the gory details because I don't want someone to miss their throw up, their breakfast, lunch or dinner, whatever you're watching this and so just to say that was the beginning, baz, of a new trajectory in my life that awoke me to so many different things and you would think that would be the worst thing that could happen, but it was the best thing that ever happened to me. So that's the beginning of a pretty amazing journey.
Speaker 1:But you were very young and thank you for sharing that, michelle. I mean you were very young doing this and coming into that world. What was it like for you coming from childhood, better stardom, into all this attention, because that must have been a really draining thing in itself. Someone so young going, oh my God, I've got all this attention. What was that transition like for you?
Speaker 2:No, that never affected me because I worked so hard and I slogged it out with some pretty bad bands at times and so I was used to having beer cans thrown at me, because the Aussie crowds are pretty rough and I guess it was a slow progress. It wasn't an overnight thing and when I was a kid the school kids would. I even got dunny dunked once because they just because I was on tv. The Aussie kids are pretty mean so I was very quiet around people, but it wasn't that sort of attention. Because I had to work so hard managing the band, making sure we had the right road crew, the rehearsals, the sound quality was great, big double four-way speakers, everything was perfect. I never, ever had time to think about myself or anything except the band.
Speaker 2:What we're going to do new songs when you're in the process of working so hard and traveling so much. There'd be articles and stuff, but we couldn't even watch our own videos on TV. My grandfather once woke up in the middle of the night and put on MTV and he saw my video and one of the videos I go like this and it looks like I'm about to fall into a barbed wire fence and he yelled out watch out Michelle. He called my mom and he said I can't believe it. It looked like she was really going to and it's a video and I know it's a rock video.
Speaker 2:But because we didn't have televisions, we were put in for years and years. We used to call them cockroach palaces, with horrible motel rooms that the gigs would give you. They weren't very good, they were horrible. So we would definitely. It took years before we started getting decent places to stay. So it's a rough life and I couldn't speak during the day because I had to work so hard to sing and dance and do all the stuff crazy stuff I did on stage. So I had to save my voice and you will find that nearly any successful rock band or singer who doesn't blow out gigs I'm not talking about Axl Rose or something like that they blew out gigs all the time. You don't speak during the day. Hardly anybody does. Chrissie Hines didn't speak during the day either, because you've got to save your voice. So you leave a very isolated life in that respect when you're in a rock band. So that's the answer to that one.
Speaker 2:No one's ever asked me that before Baz.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I can relate to that, actually, because I was DJing and hosting in an app, a completely different setup. I was never a rock star, I wasn't the famous stardom you ever, but speaking in the daytime to tourists, to people, was a drain for me. So I can relate to the environment, because working you just worked and when you were speaking you were getting paid to speak. You didn't want to. From my point of view anyway, you didn't want to be interacting with people that were wasting time and talking to you about how many shots they could drink or whatever it was that the conversation was. It's interesting because you had such a demanding lifestyle. What was the emotional drain for you?
Speaker 2:it wasn't an emotional drain. I've been. I was just driven and a happy person and extremely disciplined, making sure the band always showed, because we're on the road all the time, so we didn't have time and we didn't go out to the crowds and speak to the crowds or anything. We would just get to the gig, do the rehearsals, do the gig and and wait till everyone had left and then come out. We'd always come out and help the road crew, even though we paid them to do it, because I just found it kept the boys humble.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I like the value that that shows compassion for other people. A lot of people who have that level of authority they lose in the translation because they become very egoic. What, in the industry, is very demanding. As you said, you're always on the go. What was the most favorite, what was the most passionate part of your job? I know it was serving and enjoying what you were doing, but on a deeper level, what was the passionate part? What really fueled it?
Speaker 2:When we had written a really good song and I could feel I would always know if a song was really good, because I get what I used to call God bumps I still call it God bumps, actually and I would just know. And then when you'd see the audience singing along to the songs you've written, it's euphoric, it's hard to explain. It's hard to explain, it's not ego or anything like that, it's just when you've worked so hard to get to where you are nonstop just horrible little gigs and get it to that point. It just feels very fulfilling and joyful. And it used to make me cry when I'd go backstage because I'd say they're all singing our song. It was just so miraculous to me because after all those years of slogging it out, to have that happen was amazing.
Speaker 1:When you look back now and you've got a huge amount of success, influence. And when I say success, it isn't about self-success, it's about impact on other people. And that's what I love about you, because when I say success, it isn't about self-success, it's about impact on other people. And that's what I love about you, because when I say that you just light up, your whole body just comes alive, and I love that. What would you tell your youngest version of yourself, your 10-year-old self, looking back now? Would you do anything differently if you had a chance to go back and say, look, don't do this, do this instead.
Speaker 2:I think the only thing would be um, I had a couple of guitarists before I started creating my own bands. I would be the singer for someone else who created the band. One of the creations was we'll find a singer, and it was me. And I had a couple of the guitarists that were just mean, horrible guys who would just want to go through listening back to the. You know you, I don't think you sang that note as well as you could. They were just mean. I had one one guitarist who would lock me in my motel room, wouldn't let me out at night. So if I ever did get a chance to go out, I couldn't. So I actually had to escape. I had to get the guys in the band to help me get a bus ticket to Sydney.
Speaker 2:I was right up in Cairns to get away from this guy. I didn't date anyone I worked with, but I would just tell myself don't join those bands, get out of them straight away. If there are any mean guys, just leave straight away. I wouldn't go through that again. But the thing is, when you go through something like that, it makes you stronger, because I was all that long bus drive back to Sydney. I just said I'm going to start my own band. I'm never going to be in someone else's band, ever again. I'm going to get the coolest guys and girls to work with that are nice people, that aren't big drinkers or egotistical and I did, and it took me a few years to get everyone I wanted, but the guys were just the most amazing people to work with and kind and funny. It's like we all loved A Life Called Brian and all those sort of things. We all had our own jokes and stuff.
Speaker 2:So that's why I think for sure, actually, now that you're making me think back on this, that's why I ended up working so hard to start my own band and get the best players and the nicest people I could work with, even our road crew. They were just amazing and they'd work with the biggest names, but we paid out a lot of extra money to get the road crew. They were just amazing and they'd work with the biggest names, but we paid out a lot of extra money to get the road crew. We all would have bugger all money ourselves to get the best road crew because your lighting and your sound is everything with in a band. So anyway, but questions wow, unique ones too.
Speaker 1:I love that because what you're doing is setting the stage for from the lowest points and then learning the lessons. I think it's so important that many people just think it's about just doing it and then it all works out. But while you're explaining, it's very true, and anybody who's got any level of success, there's success. There's always this story behind the scenes that no one knows about of the stress Like, oh my God, why am I doing this? Why does this happen? But, like you said, then you raised your standard and then set the intention for this is what I want Because of the experiences that you knew you didn't want.
Speaker 1:Right, you get locked in a hotel getting nasty people that you didn't gel with, but that's all a part of the journey. Burnout and failure in leaderships in any walk of life is about them. Lessons in any walk of life is about them lessons, and you're just a a a gleaming example of somebody who applied the lessons but not just went and did it when a big fuck you to everybody and they excelled in it to that next level, which is incredible.
Speaker 1:Many people just think I'll stop here. Somebody once told me and I can't remember who it was 15 years is the number that you see overnight success, and it's 15 years in the making that you see somebody at a level where you think I could admire that person. But what you don't see, and you've explained just then, is the heartache, the late nights, the unknowns, the uncertainty, the variables that go into it. As a performer that is trying to make a name for themselves and extremely good at what they do, what did you find that was your sweet spot? I know it was singing, but what about? The singing was making you come alive.
Speaker 2:Well, apparently I've been singing since I was two. Mum said I could sing all the songs on the radio before I could even speak properly and I knew that it made people happy. I was a pretty quiet kid, apparently, but they would put me on the kitchen table and I would sing to the grandparents and it would make people happy and the nuns. I went to a beautiful catholic school and the nuns put me in all the school of stedvitz and that made them happy, because then the nuns I went to a beautiful Catholic school and the nuns put me in all the school of Stedvitz and that made them happy, because then the school would win for me singing and it's just something that I love to do and I would challenge myself in the studios as well, to sing the highest notes I could possibly get to and do the best runs and then have to do that and do it live exactly the same to make it sound like the record. And I used to love to challenge myself to be able to do that, because when I could get to a note and then go to an even higher note, it's euphoric because you don't feel like it's you doing it even though it is you doing it, but it takes such practice and such discipline. And so when you do really do a good job, you do a gig that was great and all the band was great and everything was in absolute harmony. It's it just is very fulfilling, because you know what it's like.
Speaker 2:I say to people if you could run your business like a successful rock band, where everything's got to be in harmony and you've got to show up on time, you've got to be disciplined and you only work with the people that you're in harmony with, you'll always be successful in your life. It's a good analogy, I think. Actually, and I've used that ever since I started my actual own bands. It was like that's the way to go. You don't act like the boss, but you're disciplined with everybody. You don't say to the guys that's okay, you broke your strings, Where's your spare strings? There's so many things you have to when you're managing a band. You've got to make sure everyone's got spare strings. This the drummer's always got to make sure they've got. There's so much going on. But as far as singing, that's the sweet spot is when you know you've done a really good job and everything's been in harmony.
Speaker 1:I love that word that you said there harmony because I think it's often overlooked in not just business but light as well, and what people a lot of people don't realize is your business is an extension who you are, and if things aren't aligning, there's something wrong, not just externally, but internally. So that's a good thing to look at and remind the viewers of and the listeners of today. Look internally for what's really going on, not just externally, because there's always a balance and I want to speak about the balance in the next part of this, because you had a profound awakening is an understatement, from what I can gather for the viewers. If you're tired of just surviving and you're wanting to thrive, take a notepad and pen out and going to this podcast and this episode and just write down the top five tips that you can get off Michelle, because what she's laying out here is her pathway to a life that she never needed, a holiday from, a life that she lives and thrives in, and that's happiness, that's fulfillment.
Speaker 1:It doesn't come from a materialistic world of money and success, but they can be a component of it in success, but they can be a component of it. Michelle blood is an example of, and to us all all. Success isn't external, it's internal. Before we close this section episode, how was your some of your perceived failures? How did you strengthen them in the future? They didn't repeat themselves I wouldn't repeat them.
Speaker 2:I didn't I. I never, ever thought anything I did was a failure, ever. I just knew I wasn't experienced enough yet to be able to do that. I just needed more experience. And you just keep doing it. It's like like anything. You don't fail, you're just learning as you go. Oh, I didn't do that, but I'll know next time to do it. So I don't even look at a word like failure, because I think it's going to make people feel like a failure. Oh, what a knucklehead. I buggered that up. I'll do better next time. Basically, that's my attitude.
Speaker 1:But that's gold because it's reframing it. It's not staying in the negativity of oh I did this, self-blame, self-pity, self-worth. You've then translated it into it's not a failure, it's just an experience, and now we know not to do it. I think it's a very poignant way to look at things, because a lot of people don't. They're, we're conditioned as a society to look into oh, that's the negative and that's where I'm going to stay. You didn't, and that takes a lot of courage, and also, courage is built from resilience. Vice versa, they go hand in hand. In the next part of this, I want to look into your awakening and that journey from the rock star rock band into, oh my God, there's so much more. And, as you and I both yeah, yeah, you and I both know there is so much more and a lot of it is there to be experienced before we go, is there any tips you would like to share with the audience about understanding themselves from a lesser point of view than they actually are?
Speaker 2:The thing is, you're not an island. You're not alone. You're never alone. You think you are, but you're not. We're all so very connected with this higher power that is extraordinary, that is animating every cell of your being. You're not just a human being, you are a powerful entity called the infinite. That is what you are one with. You may not feel it at the moment, but you can. Change can happen. Some people say you can have change overnight. Yes, that is true, but you have to be patient with yourself and learn in increments. Just take small bites and learn that way, because then, before you know it, you've eaten the whole elephant.
Speaker 1:I love that analogy. Michelle, thank you very much. I will see you in the second episode and viewers, people listening now, please subscribe, share the episode because you will, I guarantee you, change someone's life. Look forward to the next episode very shortly, which is part two, and how Michelle decided to go deeper within herself to really explore her true nature. See you on the second episode, share it and I'll see you very shortly.
