Hello, heart to heart FIM. All right. I'm really excited to dive into today's episode because I put a question box on my Instagram. And one of you asked me and said, Michelle, I want to learn more about your entrepreneurship journey. And there is an episode. I think it's episode two of the podcast that came out way back when we launched the podcast about my journey, about my story, about where I started. However, we're going to take a little bit of a different approach today. We're going to talk about. The whole shebang, like where did I start? Five and a half years later, what actually happened to get to this place. And as I was creating some notes, because I like to make sure I stay on track on these episodes of the way I could talk to you for hours. And I know you're busy, you got to go make money. You got to go take care of your clients and live your life. And so do I. So we're going to do a short synopsis of these last five and a half years. And as I'm talking, if what I'm saying is resonating with you, or if you're you're in any of the things that I once went through experience or what I'm currently experiencing and going through, do not hesitate to reach out to me on Instagram. You know, I love chatting with you and just having conversations, the heart to heart, real deal conversations, you know, I'm here to support you and I love you. Where did it all begin? Those of you that have been in my world for a long time, you know this, but if you're just finding me, I started my business from my mother's basement of my childhood home. Literally in my bedroom, my desk was in there. My college stuff was in there. My 25 year old version of me, things were in there. I was like, it was all cramped. I was in my childhood bedroom, in the basement of my mom's house because I couldn't afford it. I can not afford rent. And so when I started my business, I was working full-time in my job. And at the time I worked in oncology and hematology. For those of you that don't know what that is, that's cancer and blood disorders. And I worked there for about four years, climbed up the corporate ladder, um, ran my own department. I was very successful very quickly. I'm, I'm always one of those people that if you give me a job, you give me a task. I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it really well. I've just been built that way. I've been wired that way and I take those traits into my. However I was on happy and my partner, my fiance at the time when I was working there, I was my year four. He started his own business. And when he started his business, I didn't know that this side of me existed, but I was gel lists like green monster. Nene jealous. And I thought this is so funny for me to think about now, these are somebody that works from home and I have freedom, but I also hate when people do this to me, I thought that like, since he worked for himself, he could just like do things for me. Like throughout the day I would be like, yeah, bring me coffee at work. And like, you're not working. Like you work for yourself, you could do whatever you want. So disrespectful of his time and boundaries, because I didn't understand what working for yourself meant. I really was so ingrained in the nine to five. You have these hours, you show up to work and like you kind of make a life outside of that. I didn't really know what entrepreneurship was nor did. I know I wanted to be an entrepreneur until he came on and I, until he became. And it's something I always say to him, like us finding each other, us getting together. Like we are completely different humans. Our lives are on a completely different trajectory because of finding one another. And I'll always be so grateful for that and that season of my life and him and I finding each other. And so when he became an entrepreneur, I was like, you could work for yourself. What does that look like? And I remember sitting on his. He was working for himself. I was working at the, um, oncology and hematology offers and I was miserable, miserable. I didn't really have the nicest, I haven't used my words, uh, kindly here. I didn't really have the nicest work environment and it just wasn't something I was going to do longterm. The time I was 24, 25 and I was freaking the F out because I was like, I gotta get my shit. I like ever want to have kids. If I ever want to own a house, I'm like, I've got to get this together. I can't be like Goldilocks constantly on indeed.com constantly on monster.com looking for a new job. That's what it was every single day, every single week, I was sending out my resume to different companies. And I remember I was sitting on his bed and he walks in from the shower and I'm crying hysterically and he's like, what's wrong? And I'm like, if I get another job, I'm probably just going to quit because I didn't, I didn't want to work for them. I didn't know what I wanted to do. I had no idea. I had none. I like the little girl version of me. Like when I think about that 24, 25 year old looking at me now at 32 and what I've created, I'm like, she's shook. She like, can't even fucking believe it. And so he's like, well, why don't you create a business? And I'm like, Um, what, what would I talk about? Do, why would I even sell? And at the time in that season of my life, I was really into health, fitness, and nutrition. Like Uber obsessed. It's still a priority in my life. Now. It's just very different now than it was back then. But back then I was like obsessed and I was YouTube and I was Googling and I knew all of these things. I just didn't have a certification. I didn't, I didn't have any education behind it to coach people and, or get paid. So what we did, me being the decisive as fuck person as I am. I am somebody that you'll learn this about me. If you've been in my world for a while, if you're new here, you're going to learn this. I am somebody that if I have an idea, I like want it done yesterday. And so when he sent this to me and I was like, I could do that. Like, I'm obsessed with this. I love talking about this. I love teaching this. All I have to do is get a certification and then I'll figure out the business stuff later. So here I go down the Google rabbit hole, I found a certification that I giggled now because it makes so much sense. I, um, had seen certifications that you could get with nutrition and fitness and. Six months that was like the standard timeline. I'm like, well, no, I want to quit my job now. And I want to create my own business now. So how can I do this? As soon as possible, I literally found like a mini university. It was called body design university. I think that they're still active. They were amazing and Khan at the time, how to health and fitness business. So I was like, perfect. You could do this with me. What's another certification. Let's go. So they were based out in Atlanta, Georgia, and it was a two week intense. That you go, you get your certification, you come back home and then you can start your business. And I was like, oh my God, Jean. Yes. So we went out there. I took money from my savings that I did not have, like, it was like money that was like, hopefully I was going to get an apartment. And then when I spent that $1,200, I definitely wasn't gonna go to get an apartment. So I was gonna be my mom's house longer. I did it anyway. We flew out to Georgia, got the certification, came home and I was. I haven't to start a business. So what I did first was I actually started my business in person because I personally wanted in-person experience. It's also what I had seen and known that's how Khan started his business. So it was like, that's what I thought I had to do. Right. I thought if I was getting into the fitness, nutrition, um, realm, I'm going to start with clients in person. And fortunately. I had already been pretty known in the gym that I worked out at. And a lot of people wanted to work with me. I had built a name just by building relationships, which if you haven't gathered now in your business, building relationships with people, whether that's in-person or online is huge and will literally always grow your own. Huge people fucking matters. Excuse my language today. I am feisty, but people matter. So treat them like humans because your bank account will grow. So I had taken on clients pretty quickly in my in-person business, but what that looked like, I was still at my nine to five and I was working with clients from four to nine after. Well, I was working at the doctor's office. I should specify eight to four. And then I was working with in-person clients from five to nine. Every single day, Monday through Friday. And then I was taking on clients Saturday mornings. I was hustling. Literally. I felt like I lived in my car. I was barely home at my mom's house. I was in scrubs during the day workout clothes during the night. And I was getting up at four in the morning to get my own workouts in. It was for the lack of a better word, the hub. So I hustled and I made really good money. I built a book of clients. I wasn't able to. Rock out. And I wasn't able to get my first apartment yet, but I was doing really well. And I was really proud of that business. However, it was like, okay, how long can we like have like these two almost full-time jobs. I'm like, what's the end goal. So one day I was driving to one of my client's houses because she didn't come to my gym. I trained her in her home. I had a whole mishmash of things happening, but I had a car and that that's what was important because it got me a point a to point B to make some money. So I'm driving my clienteles and I have a podcast on, and it was Amanda Bucci podcast. And this is going back five and a half years ago. And I'm listening to her and I just followed her cause I was in the fitness realm and I loved what she was doing with her YouTube, et cetera. I was obsessed. She had said I fire. I hired a business coach and here's what happened to my business. I made thousands of dollars. I changed my offers. I brought my business online, et cetera. And I was like sitting in the parking lot of Dunkin donuts. And I was like, holy. I'm going to bring my business online. And I no idea what that meant, but of course she linked her business coach on the podcast. I started following him. I applied for his program. I didn't know what I was doing. I was sitting in that parking lot terrified, but I was like, okay, if I'm really going to grow this thing, I'm going to do it online. And I'll still have my in-person clients, but why not go online? Like everyone else around me that I'm following on social media is doing this. Why can't I reach and impact people all over the world? So I applied and that week I told con I applied for this program to coach me and bring my business online. I have no idea what it costs. I have no idea of anything. He's like, all right. I support you. We were both still living at home at the time. So it kind of worked. We didn't have rent and I didn't have much to lose. And I understand that privilege of I was going to have a roof over my head because my mom was not going to kick me out. I love you, mom. Love you. She's the reason I'm here today. And so. I got on that sales call paid $5,000 for that program. And that same day I gave my two weeks notice at my full-time job. And that goes back to what I was saying earlier is I'm somebody that is just, if I have an idea, I want it yesterday. And it's a beautiful, beautiful thing about me, but it also sometimes gets me in trouble. And so I quit my job. I gave my two weeks, they were not happy. I still had my in-person clients. Then I started building my business. And what had happened to give you full transparency. I grew very quickly and I'm so grateful for this, and there's many reasons why that happened. And that's because I showed up. I remember in that first program, like, I didn't know. I think I talked about this in a podcast episode, not too long ago. I didn't know about mindset stuff. Like, I didn't know that I could fail when I started. Like, I just like believed it would work. Like I spent $5,000. I had a business coach and I was doing what they told. And it was working. And so like, I didn't know, I could fuck it up. I didn't know. My mind could get in my way. I didn't know. I wouldn't or couldn't um, have the, or, uh, words are hard right now. I didn't know that there was a possibility that it wouldn't work. That wasn't something that was ever in my mind in year one that just like, wasn't a thought and maybe it sounds naive, but I think it's something that more of us should adapt in year 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, et cetera. Adapting, like just going and believing and trusting this won't fail. But I think so often we operate from what if it doesn't work out, we're planning, worst case scenario. We're planning to fail. We're prepping for the parachute to catch us at the end, instead of just like blindly, literally going for it and trusting that you'll fall and you'll end up on a, on a trampoline and you'll be okay and you'll be safe and it'll be. So in that year though, I hired that coach and I will always give a Testament because my business did well. However, I'm not going to sugar coat this. I got so many nos. My first sales call, first of all, I wanted to pee and poop my pants. I was so nervous. I remember sitting in my bedroom, my mom, in my mom's house at my desk, like terrified, terrified to do the sales call. And I was following the script verbatim, which now I like giggle about because. The things I was saying are so not things I would ever actually say to people, but it worked, it did work. So I'm on the sales call and the first sales call I had the girls like so excited. She so resonant. Yes. I'm in, I'll pay you tomorrow. I didn't know. I didn't know. I didn't know what was going to happen. You already know what happened the next day. She goes to me, kink in touch with her. She's not answering me. She obviously doesn't pay. I literally drove to con's job. Cried. 'cause, I didn't know what to do. I was like, holy shit, this sucks. Like what people could do this. And that was like my first taste of like, after that first sales call, that was my first taste. I was like, whoa, this isn't going to be so easy. It's going to be some ton as easy as just showing up on social, there's gonna be some nos. And it was okay. It was okay. Then I got that note because of course I got a lot of yeses. And in that first year of my business, I just had one-to-one coaching. That's all. I had so many clients, I'm so grateful for them. They were the start of this empire. So grateful. However, it wasn't scalable. And I was getting really tired and really exhausted. And I like, I, I worked weekends. I worked every day, I was working nonstop. Anytime I went to the gym, it was like video my workouts. It was take selfies. It was a whole thing, but I did make six figures that first year I was very successful that first year of business. And I. Holy shit. I was making more money than I ever had imagined in my entire life. Mind you. At my nine to five, I was making $50,000. Not at the time for me, that was a lot of money. So me making six figures was like, holy cannoli. Um, within the first three months of my business, I was able to go get my mom, my own apartment and move out of my mom's house. It was rough. No year two, I started branching out in to group programs and I quickly found myself in that launch to launch cycle, which at first I didn't hate. Um, and it's not that I hate it now. It's just not the way in which I want to run my business. I just don't want my business to be dependent on a launch because you're too, I have my one-to-one coaching, which was funding the business. Yes. High ticket coaching was funding my business and I said, I want to diversify. I want to do some group programs and it very much was like sell one-to-one launch a program. So one-to-one launch program. So one-on-one launch program and that made me six figures. Plus again, I made a little bit more than a year before as a health and wellness professional. All throughout this year, what had happened was I'd hired other business coaches I'd been in other programs. It was, I've never not. And I will be transparent about this. I'm not saying this is what you have to do for me. I've never not had a coach. Um, and I do think personally for me, that's been a Testament of my success. Um, I'm not somebody that likes to sit still. I don't like to be complacent. I like to be challenged. I like to move. Um, and so that's really a big reason why I am here to. So throughout year two, I had coaches and every coach taught me the same model launch sell launch. So, and again, it made me six figures. What happened throughout that time though, was I had so many people, especially in the programs I had joined, like the group programs or the masterminds. I was in so many people inside of those were like, Can I hire you? Can you help me inside of my business? And what's so interesting as I say that out loud to you is my, like people, my first client that ever became my client, saw my gifts as a business coach and the way in which I was running my business to be that they wanted to learn that from me before I even saw that. And so for me, I do have a business background. I have a money background. It just made sense. Like when people were coming to me and they were like, Hey, can you teach me? Like, how have you made six figures as a health and fitness coach, two years in a row? How are you making 10 K months? 15 K months. 20 minutes. Like how the flippin heck and Bob, are you doing it? How are you doing it? Teach me, teach me. And I remember saying the calm, like I'm onto something here. Like I'm really on to something here. So you're. I switched to business coaching. Like in year two, I did take some private business clients like behind the scenes, anyone that had reached out to me, I just wasn't promoting it. And I did try for a little bit in that year or two to market, both of them, but I really just stuck with the health and wellness at that realm. And then I had some private business clients behind the scenes and I was getting. At thick results. And I was like, okay, I'm pretty good at this. And I know a lot about business. I know a lot about marketing. I know a lot about money. Like I'm going to go all in. So I went all into business coaching in year three and I hit multiple six figures very quickly. I want to just share with you what happened though, while I did that, I also hit no massive burden. I was still running my business launch to launch, and I realized I don't feel safe, even though I'm making money. I was panicking. Non stop so much show that you know, that feeling, some of you might resonate, resonate with this. When a client comes in and they're on a payment plan and you look, and you're like the payment plans ending next month. Oh my God am God. My God. I'm not gonna make any more money. What's going on. Like what if no one else comes in? What if no one wants to be my new rates? What if, what if like this is the last money I'm ever going to make? That was me every day, every day. I was obsessed with money. I was worrying all the time. I remember fighting with con constantly because I was so in my head, I was hard to be around because I was so obsessed and nervous about the business potentially falling apart because I was so afraid. Um, like I've made multiple six figures. I'm making money. People are coming in, but what if it stops? Because right now, if I don't show up and sell, if I don't show up in launch, if I don't create a new business, we're not making money. That was my reality. And I was terrified of it. And I'm not going to sugar coat this. I had moments where I was like, fuck, can I do this for like the longterm? Do I want to just live a life where like I'm glued to social media and feel like I can't not be on this thing. Otherwise I won't make money. Like maybe I should just go get a job. I'm not gonna lie. I was making multiple six figures, hundreds of thousands of dollars, honey. We made like 300 plus K that year. And like we closed the year with like 400 sales, 400 K in sales and money already coming in the following year. And I was questioning. Should I get an nine to five because of the way in which I was running, my business was not sustainable and it wasn't going to support me in the longterm because I would just have to have endless energy, even though I'm a generator. I think I operate a lot like a projector. Um, I don't have, I'm not somebody that has endless energy. I need space. I need time off. I need, I need to like decompress a lot of the time. And so for me, while I made a lot of money and I was really proud of it, my nervous system couldn't handle the ups and downs of the income. And I personally could not handle the lack of safety, the lack of unsafeness that I felt in my core, I hated that feeling more than anything. I had to figure it out. What needed to change. And so for me, that leads us to years for an L four or five and a half. Right now I stopped running my business launch to launch. I said there has to be another way there has to be there. There's not only one way to run your business. Like that's not true, just like that doesn't happen. Right. And so for me, I think I spoke about this. It was either in the last episode or the episode before this, um, it was just the last episode as I'm thinking this, that. I changed how I run my offers and it really allows me space inside of the business to always be selling from a place of like more ease and calmness. It's not launched style and I'll go, I'm starting this program. And if 10 people don't buy it, then it won't be to pay my rent or my mortgage, et cetera. No, that like, I can't do it. That's literally just not how you do business in my world. I'm not here for it. Your launches should not be funding. I'm a firm believer of like this I'm going to say should, even though I don't love this word, but if you, somebody that creates safetiness craze, having money, building wealth, one day, being able to retire from your business, your business should have thousands. If not hundreds of thousands coming into the business four months before you even start that. Before you even start that month before we started 20, 22, we had over six figures coming in. Now we already have multiple six figures. We're only halfway through here. If I do nothing else, we'll be, we'll make more money than we did last year. If I do nothing else this year, we're in June, I'm recording this. It's like June 4th right now, as I'm talking to you, that's the kind of business I want you to run. If you want a business that allows you to feel safe. And literally when I say safe, I mean, Nervous system on check and your business is not dependent on. I got to create a new offer. I got to launch thing. I have to have ideas and I've got to, I gotta keep going and keep going. That doesn't have to be how you run your business, but what I will say for you, um, and for me, you just from a really transparent place, this was not something that happened overnight. I had to take the time to change my offers, to change how I was running them, to shift how I was selling, to shift where my business was dependent on certain things for income. I had to shift those things and that took a little bit of time. That took six months, 12 months to get to a place where I'm like, wow, if I don't launch, we'll still make money and sell. And I would never lie to you that this took and went happened overnight. But I had to take time to figure this out and I had to get out the kinks and I had to see a lot of shit unfold. I had a burn my business model to the ground, and that was terrifying. Literally the scariest thing I ever did. And I remember my mentor at the time when I was like trying to implement in more. Inside my business. She's like Michelle, it's going to feel harder before it feels easier. And that was the truest thing. Even last summer, I had so many come apart because I was like, this feels I'm trying to make it easier to feel so hard because it was so different than anything I'd have ever done before. And there was a new level of trust that I had to insert inside of myself and inside my business inside of my offers inside of my ideas inside of my creative. Is that a lot of moving parts, but it's been 1011% worth it. And this is where I want to invite you if like what you've done in your business up until this point has worked and you're like so happy, but you want it. You want things to shift and you want your income to be. More free feeling and have higher levels of recurring revenue. And I say recurring revenue, I mean, starting the month with money coming in higher levels of that higher amounts of that before you start each month, so that your business doesn't feel so dependent on anyone offered to fund it. Something. We want to look at something we want to think about. And I want to, I want to invite you to do that. It's okay. If you want to do things different. So K is more than okay. If you wanna make more money, it's okay. If you don't want your business to be reliant on high ticket, one to one clients. So K if you don't want your business bureau land on signing mastermind clients, it's okay. If you want to create and sell new offers every single month, and then get people into a membership, thinking about all the things, your business model, like there's so many different ways to create a sustainable business that supports you long term, but you've got to look at things different. And something else I want to share. I'm just riffing now. And I'm trusting that whatever's coming through is exactly what you need to hear. I completely went off the cuff and off my notes. So we're just going with it today. This is just from my heart right now. I'm not, not going to edit anything, but with us, what I, what I want you to think about is where do I want to be in five years from now, 10 years from now? Are you planning to have kids. Are you planning on traveling? Are you planning on retiring your partner? Are you planning on being a nomad, you planning on buying a home or homes? What do you desire? Think about those things that you desire here to think more. Money's amazing. You guys don't want me here for it. Talk about money all the time. I have money. I'm an, the most incredible money program. Like I work with women and their money. Buying homes and all of these things that we're talking about, these goals. I want you to have these goals in life that you desire. I want you to have, I want you to think about that for a moment, because here's the thing, what we want to do with the life that you want to create is we want to create a business. That's going to support that a business is going to support that, that wow words are hard going to support that financially, but also going to support that in time and freedom. Because if you tell me Michelle, I want a business. Create freedom. And I want to travel the world and I want to be a nomad. Chances are you don't want to be on calls all day, every day, Monday through Friday. Try not going to support your nomad lifestyle. And what if you don't have internet just saying, we want to look at where you actually want to go in your business. If it's retiring your partner. Okay. It looks like we probably need to really increase cash. Really create some systems to bring in more revenue inside of the business so that you're not feeling any external and additional pressure when you, when, and if you do retire your partner, and now you still feel like you're a dual income household or hire your partner there. So there's so many facets to this and it, it honestly, it fascinates me so much. And these are the conversations I wish I wish someone was having in year one, two and three with me, but really what was happening in year one, two and three, it was selling. Launch, so launch and I'm here for it, but I also, and way more here for having systems inside of a business, having offers that are really scalable, um, having businesses that fund our lives, not just in the now, but 10, 15, 20. 50 years from now. I don't know about you, but one day I do want to retire or don't want to be on Tik TOK and Instagram when I'm 90, I'm sure that you don't either. I want a business that can retire me. I want a business that can send my kids to college. I want a business that will change the trajectory of my life and my family's lives. And that's what I'm hearing. And that's what I'm here to help you to do. And that's, I'm going to hold hand and out of it, that's what we're doing. A ton of money mastery. That's why I cannot stop shutting up about it because it is life changing. It is all the things that I wasn't taught or told, or even eat things I didn't even think were possible in years. One through three of my business, if I had known this sooner, I would, I would be tripled probably where I am. And I want to pour that into you because what we're doing a ton of money mastery will change your life forever. We'll change your offers, your scalability, your income, your family's life. Your goals will change. We are mastering money, mindset, energetics and business strategy and systems and wealth building all combining literally one flippant. And marketing because of course, literally marketing makes you money. So we can't leave that part out. If you want details. The link is in the show notes, but you can also DME on Instagram, we can chat it out. But one last thing I want to leave you with because I don't think I said this in this episode yet as I went on my whole team here, but this is the realest real my entrepreneurship journey. I think, as I say it in, I dunno, how long have we been talking together in 28 minutes? How I've ripped this out? It's been hard. There've been so many moments I've wanted to give up. There've been so many tears. I think I, you, you just heard my voice waver a little bit. I get emotional. I think, as I say this out loud and talk, talk through this with you. It's been hard. There've been so many moments where I just said, fuck this. Can I keep doing this? Is it worth it? Is it worth it? There have been client failed payments. Clients that have blocked me on social media gone missing. This was more so in years one and two, but all those things have happened. If they've happened to you, I need you to know that you're not alone. There've been so many nos. My gosh, like I wish I kept count. Cause that'd be a good post. So many nos there've been clients that have joined programs and then never communicated or never finished the program. And that's heartbreaking because all I want to do is see my clients when those, those ones hurt. There've been so many uncovering and deep mindset work and trauma relived. I want to share with you any person that's making multiple six figures, seven figures, eight figures. It's not always easy, but I think it's glamorous in the social media business world where it's like somebody made a million dollar a month or 60 K a month or 70 K a month or a hundred K a month, whatever 20 K a month 5k, whatever it is, it's off a lot of money. You guys, we have the ability, the fact that you can sit here and say, Michelle, I want to make $10,000 this month or $20,000 or $50,000. A hundred thousand. It's fucking insane. First of all, or you say to me on make seven figures, the ability, the fact that you have the ability to do that. Gratitude gratitude. Incredible. But I want to share with you one last little bit of any person that's rocking. It went through some hearts. And if you're in it right now, you're not alone. And I want you to message me on social let's chat. I love you. I think I've given you all the goods of my life, like my brief synopsis of the last five and a half years. And if you want more, let me know on Instagram. Maybe I'll create some reels. I maybe I'll go live in my Facebook group and you'll create another episode. You let me know. I love you. I'll see you soon. You wealthy woman. You.