Welcome to the Elevated Edit, the weekly reset for ambitious women who are done with chaos and ready to actually follow through.

I'm your host, Blakely Ramsey, strategist, systems girl and execution coach for entrepreneurs who want structure that sells in a business that feels like peace.

Here, we don't chase hustle.

We edit what matters.

Let's get into it.

I have spent over $56,000.

Yes, you heard that right.

This year on coaching, masterminds and mentorships.

And I'll be super honest, it made zero sense at first.

Today I'm going to talk about what it's really like to invest before you're ready, before you see results, and before it feels logical.

So I joined two large mastermind groups in January of this year, 2025, and I have done, you know, coaching programs.

I have gotten certifications and stuff like that before, but I have never joined a high ticket mastermind ever.

I will say it has, like, opened up a new side of my brain that I didn't even know was there.

Um, but I do want to pull back the curtain a little bit more because I think for me, you know, I've heard other people be like, Oh, I invested $300,000 in coaching and look at the result.

But I think so often people don't talk about how scary it is to invest that kind of money.

And so I'm going to just pull back the curtain just a little bit and then get into if you are considering, you know, a high ticket mastermind program or any kind of, like, high ticket investment in yourself, some things that you can look out for, some questions that you can ask yourself, the future mentors, and just to see if it's a good fit for you.

So I went to a summit in January.

It was a paid ad summit, and I didn't know anything about paid ads.

Now I thought I did.

I thought it was just like, oh, you boost a post.

I know how to do that.

Like, how really?

How hard can that be?

But I wanted to.

I specifically went to the summit because I wanted to get in the room with other women who were also entrepreneurs, and I wanted to feel inspired.

So I was not feeling inspired in January.

I was feeling very like, there's got to be more to life than this.

This can't be what I was made to do.

Truly, that's how I felt.

I just felt really discouraged and I felt stuck.

Like, I felt like Alice in Wonderland.

When she's in, is it a glass bottle that she's in?

I think maybe.

And she's trying to Break out of the.

The jar.

Is it a jar?

A bottle.

Y' all know the scene I'm talking about, when she grows so big and she's, like, stuck and she can't get out.

Like, that's how I felt.

It was, like, painful.

And I just knew I had to do something, had to change.

So I was like, okay, I need to get in the room with some women that are going to inspire me.

And I thought that was going to be the end of the road.

Like, I had no intentions of joining this mastermind.

So I get there.

The environment was wonderful, everyone.

I mean, the room was curated so well because she knew how to run ads.

She had a very specific room full of very specific women who were all, like, so encouraging, so kind.

I just.

I don't think I've ever been in a room like that with that many women.

I think there's close to 300, maybe a little more than 300.

And every one of them were uplifting.

There was no jealousy.

There was no passive aggressiveness.

It was just, hey, how are you?

Who are you?

Like, what do you do?

How can I help you?

How can I connect you?

It was amazing.

And the last day.

Well, the second to the last day of the summit, she announced her prices.

And I remember seeing her, right, $31,000 on the board.

My initial thought was, who in their right mind would pay $31,000 for a coaching program on paid ads?

Genuinely, that's what I thought.

And so I didn't even listen to what was included.

I was like, girl, you.

You must not know about me.

And so I didn't even think twice about it.

And I kid you not, the next day, so I had to pack all my stuff up and bring it with me for the final day because it was my last night in the room.

I'm in the shower, and I just remember feeling like God was talking right to me and saying, I need you to do this.

And I was like, like, are you gonna give me some money to make this happen?

Because I've already, like, I've got, you know, savings here, and, you know, we want to build a house.

We want to invest in X, Y, and Z.

Like, all of our money's already allocated for.

There's a little bit to invest in something else, but certainly not $31,000.

And I just remember him being like, I just need you to trust me.

And so I said in the shower, I was like, o, you really want me to do this, you're gonna have to, like, tell me straight to my face.

And so I, you know, got ready, got out of the shower, got ready, packed all my stuff up, walk over.

She had set up a coffee bar for us that morning for the.

Because I was a VIP ticket holder.

And this girl that I'm now really good friends with, we talk every single day.

She comes into the building because she, the day before was like, man, I think I really want to do this.

I'm like, girl, you know, go, girl, you got this.

And she comes in and she's crying, like, are you okay?

Like, what's up?

And she said, God talks me in the shower.

I'm like, is he about, oh, great, here we go.

She's like, God talks me in the shower, and he told me I need to do this.

And I told him that he needed to give me, you know, clear answer.

She said, I'm Blakely.

In the car on the way here, I heard him say, have you ever opened your hands and given me your money and trusted me to give it back to you, like, tenfold?

And she said the answer was no.

She said, and, like, I just feel led to open my hands and give him my money and see what result I get from this.

And I was like, oh, snap.

I think that that was my answer that I needed from him.

And so I go in the room and they've got different sections set up in the back for the different levels of the program.

Because there was an eighty thousand dollar program, the thirty thousand and then or thirty one thousand, and then like an eight thousand, I think.

And so I go up to the table for the 31,000, and there were all these girls standing around it, and they were like, oh my gosh, are you gonna sign up?

Like, they came to give me a hug, and I was like, can you please, like, don't give me a hug.

Don't look at me.

This is very stressful for me.

Like, I don't want to talk about this.

I just please, please run my credit card.

And let's, like, give me just a minute because I'm having trouble processing this.

They were like, girl, we remember our first investment.

Like, it's.

It's a big deal, but this is so amazing.

And so I signed up for it.

And I remember on the plane ride back, because one of the girls in the room, she said, you're gonna get.

She said, any program that you pay for, you're gonna get value, but the person that you become when you pay for that program is really the biggest payoff.

And so I'm sitting on the plane on the way back because, you know, I left and it was kind of crazy.

And then Atlanta traffic and then getting through TSA in Atlanta was a whole experience in itself.

And so I'm sitting on the plane and I'm like, oh, my goodness.

I just spent $31,000 on a coaching program.

I gotta get to work.

And, you know, this was at the same time that I had kind of scaled back in my real estate career.

And so I invested this money and I'm not making as much money.

And so I came back and that was, you know, when I started the elevated edit.

Cool.

Great.

Wonderful.

I thought that was going to be the craziest thing I did this year.

And then I heard this girl speak at that summit, and it was Macy McNeely.

And everybody there was like, we're so excited for Macy to speak.

You're going to love her.

And I was like, who is this Macy girl?

Like, who are y' all talking about?

And they're like, you don't know who Macy is?

Oh, Blakely.

Like, she's your kind of person.

Like, you're gonna love her.

And then she spoke and I was like, oh, my gosh.

I want to be this girl.

Like, she is me if I become intentional with my life.

And so I joined her challenge.

It's a sales challenge.

Just a FYI, if you're ever in like a five day challenge or a three day challenge, it is a sales presentation.

I did not know that before this.

And so that's just a little.

If I ever run a challenge, I'm going to sell you something at the end of it.

Just full transparency.

There is value in challenges a hundred percent.

Like, I got value out of the challenge.

But there will be a sales presentation at the end.

That is what they are intended for.

And if you have a, like, high ticket coaching program or any kind of membership or anything like that, you might want to consider running a challenge.

The book one to Many is great.

He really specifically talks more about webinars, but you can take the information from the webinar layout and you can translate it into a challenge layout.

So if you have any high ticket big programs, anything like that you're wanting to sell, I would highly recommend a challenge.

But just so you know that, so I do her challenge.

It's called the sell your offer challenge.

It was fantastic.

It was wonderful.

And then her program was $25,000.

I'm like, I cannot like.

And I'm not joking, y' all.

It was like, God was like, I need you to do this too.

Like, this Is a literal.

Like, I cried boohoos over this because I was like, you know, like, our savings, like, we wanted to build a house, and this was supposed to be to invest in that, and what am I doing?

And it just.

Nothing made sense.

But nothing made sense.

Truly, it didn't.

And so I joined both of these programs.

I'm immediately overwhelmed.

Immediately overwhelmed.

I'm a learner, but it has been a really long time since I've been in anything at that capacity, since college.

And I would even say that college wasn't like this, you know, where every single week we have to show up and do a rep and there's all this information, and it is literally a new way of thinking.

Like, the way that my brain operates now versus January is so different because of these programs.

And it got so much worse before it got better.

And that was not what I was expecting.

I thought that, you know, I was going to stay the same and then gradually get better.

But it was like my life, like, took a plummet.

I would say February, March and April, maybe even part of May.

My life just went down into a valley of despair and awfulness.

It was not great because I felt like I was.

I still showed up.

Like I was doing the work, I was putting in the reps I was learning.

But it made me feel so.

So, like, I honestly made me feel like I didn't know anything at all.

You know, everything that I thought I knew was being challenged.

And it has been so long since I've been challenged to the level that I've been challenged this year.

And it was exactly what I needed.

Like, sitting here now, I'm like, oh, my gosh, of course I needed that.

But at the time, really felt awful.

And, you know, another part too, I was talking to a friend about this is especially if you've already had a successful career, I considered myself pretty successful before this year.

It's very difficult to take a step back and work on yourself and work on your skills.

Because what I realized and what I actually, I realize now is if I had continued to work the way I was and do the things I was doing, I would have never been able to make space for this improvement that I've had this year.

But taking a step back while being in the room with women who are making seven figures, eight figures a year, it can literally make you feel like you're like a little ant.

And I.

I felt like that a lot this year.

You know, I felt very uncomfortable.

I felt kind of worthless a little bit, because you show up and it's your turn to do a rep, and you go after three girls that, you know, they're like, oh, Yeah, I made 1.2 million yesterday.

And it's like, oh, cool, I made $30 yesterday.

You know, it's.

It was very difficult.

Like I said, it got way, way, way, way worse before it got better.

And I think a lot of people experience that way worse.

And they go, oh, something's wrong.

Like, this is not how it's supposed to be.

And I'll be super honest, there are moments where I felt like, oh, maybe I didn't make the right choice.

I am very intuitive, and.

And things usually work out even if they don't make sense at first.

But I.

There were a couple moments this year where I panicked.

I was like, oh, gosh, what have I done?

But now that I'm coming out on the other side, I wouldn't say I'm completely on the other side.

There's still a lot of mindset work that I need to do.

And now that I am in this world, I realize how many skills that I lack.

And that has also been extremely eye opening for me as well.

But I have gotten so much payoff from being in these programs, aside from ads and sales.

I have learned so much.

So I have a lot more clarity in terms of action.

You know, I think before, it was kind of difficult for me to decide what I wanted to do day in and day out.

I was like, well, I should probably be working on this or maybe that or maybe this.

And now I'm like, I know exactly what I need to be working on.

Like, I know exactly what's going to move the needle.

I know exactly what my goals are.

I'm very clear.

I trust myself a lot more.

I'm.

It's.

It's kind of funny because I'm more open to feedback, but I also trust my decisions.

You know, Like, I can allow myself to be open to feedback and constructive criticism, but at the end of the day, like, I know that I make good decisions, and I trust myself a lot more.

Where I think, as before, I constantly needed validation.

You know, I constantly needed to hear somebody say, oh, you're doing a good job, or, oh, that's great, or, oh, that looks good.

And if I didn't hear that, I felt bad about myself.

And now I'm like, well, I know that this is great.

Like, I don't need anybody to tell me.

And so that has been really amazing.

Better mentorship.

I think before I would ask my friends or I would ask you know the people around me and not there's anything wrong with that.

But I do think there is harm in only asking the people around you for their opinion, especially if they aren't in the space that you're in, if that makes any sense.

I hope it does without being offensive.

But before, you know, I would just ask my friends, like in my immediate circle, and I would just take their feedback to heart.

And maybe those people weren't trying to get to a million or trying to get to, you know, 2 million or whatever.

And like, it's not even a numbers thing, but just a mindset.

You know, there's a certain mindset of someone who hits a million hits 10 million hits, 20 or whatever.

And I think before I was just so reactive to the people around me and their feedback and their criticism.

And now I have mentors that I can go to who have been where, exactly where I'm at, and they're exactly where I want to go.

And it has drastically improved the quality of my life.

And I'm also, you know, because people, people give their opinion about just about everything.

And I've gotten so many opinions the last couple of months about choices that I've made and things that I've done and things that I'm doing.

And I think it can be really difficult to figure out who you need to listen to.

And hiring mentors that know where I want to go and know my business and know me and know my goals and I trust what they say has been huge for me.

I also have deeper conversations, so I have become a lot more curious.

I think that I have been exposed to a lot of different kinds of people.

I think it's so easy for us to, you know, be in our bubble, in our circle, and we're around the same people all the time.

And being around people that I don't necessarily agree with or, or that are doing things I would never do or doing things in a way I would never do it.

It's been really eye opening for me and it's kind of forced me to think outside the box in terms of wow.

I think some of the ways that I've been doing things are the hard way and there is a different way to do it.

And then also I've had an internal identity shift.

This has been the biggest one this year is, I think before I felt like everything needed to be perfect before I took any action.

And now that I see women day in and day out take massive imperfect action and it pays off for them, it has given me the confidence to also take imperfect action.

And by taking that imperfect action, I've messed up an awful lot.

I would say my failure rate in 2025 is pretty high, but my, my learning rate is also pretty high as well, because I've learned lessons from every single one of those situations.

And so it's amazing because when, you know, when you get in these rooms that are curated for you and you're very specific about getting in them, like, you get to borrow belief from the people that are ahead of you.

And that belief is so critical.

The belief is more important than skill, than, you know, credibility, than experience.

All the things like the belief that you can do it is truly what's going to get you to that next level.

And I didn't have belief in myself before.

And now seeing where they started and how not even how hard they try every day, but how they're constantly self improving, self improving.

Even, you know, the girls that are charging $150,000 for a coaching program, they're constantly improving their program and themselves, and they constantly have their eyes set on, like, okay, like, how good can I make this?

Like, how much can I give back?

How, like, high of a leader can I be?

And I love it.

I love being in that environment now.

Not all investments are equal.

I do feel like I lucked out and made two really phenomenal investments.

And since I made those investments, I have also hired two other coaches.

And it's funny because they're also kind of in the same world.

They're in one of the coaching programs that I'm in.

And so I've hired a.

I think I mentioned that I hired an Instagram coach.

And then today, actually I hired a PR coach because my goal for Q3 is visibility, and I need a little help.

You know, I'm like, over here, chatgpt.

Like, how do, how do I get into pr?

I'm like, I need to hire somebody.

I don't have time for this.

I need someone who knows what they're doing, who has, you know, their foot inside the door.

I need them to, like, get me to that, that next level and collapse time for me.

So choosing investments wisely is important.

And like I said, I really lucked out because I did not do any research before I hired these two coaches.

I went off of intuition and it paid off.

But I did make a list of things now that I would look for and am looking for in future investments.

So proximity over perfection.

There are so many programs out there where it is just filled with courses that are, you know, years old.

Or you get like all this content, but you don't get any proximity.

And for me, the proximity portion has been huge.

Even if it is like a recorded call, as long as it's recorded like that week.

I love to hear just little nuggets and little bits and pieces of how they're improving, because that is one thing I've noticed.

Like my ads coach, her business is taking off.

And so when we get on these calls, yes, we learn about ads, but we also learn about PR and visibility and sales and you know, all these, like ChatGPT and LinkedIn and like all of these things as a byproduct because she is constantly improving as well.

And so just being in proximity with someone who is on a personal development journey is so important.

Like I said, it doesn't have to be a program where you're on like a live call every single day or you have, you know, one on one access to them.

But just being in their proximity and being in their sphere in terms of getting to hear their language and the way they communicate as they're growing is so important.

And I will say this about the programs that I'm in.

They are not perfect.

There is a lot of like admin stuff that the ball gets dropped or, you know, they kind of revise programs in the background and things kind of adapt as you go.

But I have learned that that stuff does not matter to me.

Like, I am there for the value and the value is so important.

Energy over tactics.

So that's another thing that I've really learned this year.

And this goes back to that borrowing belief where, you know, so many people are like, oh, here's a tip or a trick or whatever it is.

I don't care about any of that.

I really, truly don't.

Like, I want to see your energy, I want to hear how you talk, I want to hear how you think, I want to hear how you communicate, I want to hear how you invest.

Like, I want someone who is excited and is constantly trying to grow and improve and get better, even if it's like an incremental little tiny step every single day.

Like, that is the people that I want to be around.

And then identity alignment over hype.

So I think a lot of people, it's like, oh, they have 250,000 followers on Instagram, or oh, well, they have, you know, this huge podcast or, you know, they've got all this hype around them and then kind of like when you get in the inside of their world, they might have like had a something go Viral or they have like a really good, you know, company doing their social media or whatever it is, but then you get inside and they don't actually, like, their identity is not actually aligned well with what they.

They don't practice what they preach every single day.

And like I said, I've lucked out, that I have chosen well, but the coaches that I've chosen are so focused on ensuring that they transfer belief instead of just transferring, you know, oh, well, look at me.

I'm so great and wonderful.

It's like, no, like, I want to see you win and I want to see you win and I'm going to help you win because I live this every single day.

And, you know, just being the rooms, like the rooms that you're in is going to dictate the standards that you normalize.

I was actually just talking to someone in one of the programs earlier and we were talking about how our standards have changed this year.

You know, I, I have standards that I didn't have before.

And I think a lot of people look at standards as like, oh, well, you're snobby or like you're stuck up or whatever.

It's like, well, my standards don't have to be your standards.

But yes, I do have high standards for myself because I have high goals for myself and I really do.

I'm very hard on myself.

I expect a lot.

I do.

And I do have a high standard for how I expect myself to show up and elevating my standards and realizing that, like, it is okay to have high standards.

And also, I did not realize how high standards could be has been incredible.

Like, this next quarter, I am actually updating all of my branding.

I am updating my wardrobe, I am updating my whole entire look, really.

And it's not even in a vain way.

I just need to change the way I show up for myself because that affects my beliefs and my confidence so much.

And that is one of the things that I've learned being in this room, in these rooms, is how powerful, like, the way that you look at yourself really is.

And so for me, I am already currently looking ahead to Q4 of this year and into 2026.

And I'm already, you know, kind of mapping out what am I going to invest in next.

Because I will tell you this, there will never be a year ever again in my life where I will not be part of a, a program at a high level just because I have seen the value I have and I'm experiencing the payoff now.

And being in a Room like that and being in a mastermind and being in a group has really changed my life.

You can even go back to podcast episodes like last year in like October, November and hear the difference in my voice and my conviction, the way I carry myself, it's just so different.

And I give all of that credit to the rooms that I'm in.

And so looking into the future for Q4, my plan is to.

So Q3 is visibility, PR.

I'm going big.

And then Q4 I really like want to do more personal development.

I feel like I've done a lot of like business development, so sales and Instagram and you know, ads and pr, all the things.

But I am looking into hiring a nervous system coach, like specifically for high level nervous system regulation.

I feel like I've kind of scratched the surface with it and I know a fair amount, but I need a high quality mentor that has a higher standard than me to take me to the next level.

Same with therapy.

You know, I started investing in therapy last year and it's been game changing for me in terms of limiting beliefs and, you know, things I didn't even realize were running the show really in the subconscious.

And so I'm investing heavily in that in the last portion of this year and then I'm going to be open to what happens next year.

I don't know if I'm going to rejoin some of these programs that I'm in.

I know I'm rejoining one because they've got a kind of like a lifetime membership portion.

So I'm going to rejoin.

I think it's like fifteen hundred dollars.

But I, I'm already looking into, you know, what I'm going to invest in next year and kind of what direction I want to take my business.

And I'm looking at it now because like I said, PR invisibility for Q3 and then Q4, I really want to pull back and focus on myself.

And then in December, my hope is to take off.

And if you know me, there will never be a whole month where I don't work.

But I would like to have, you know, all of my content pre recorded.

I'm not gonna have any new offers.

I'm not, you know, launching anything.

I am focusing on family and like reflecting on the year and being still and just slowing down so that when whatever comes for 2026, I'm ready for and I'm not like stumbling into the new year.

I feel like since 2018 that's been my life is.

I'm just like stumbling into the year I'm like, okay, it's a fresh start.

I'm gonna start over.

Like, I wanna be very intentional and I wanna be ready and prepared for the next year.

And so when you listen to this episode, if there is no way that you could invest that kind of money, I want you to just think about the amount that you could invest.

Like, could you invest, you know, $50?

Could you invest $100?

Could you invest $1,000?

And then think of the number that you're comfortable with, maybe even a number that you're not comfortable with.

Because I will say I was wildly uncomfortable with the numbers that I invested.

I, like I said, I had full intentions.

I mean, we've worked our tails off to, you know, kind of build a safety net.

But the return on those investments is already paying off in dividends.

And I just, I can only imagine, you know, the next couple of years, this new software that I've downloaded, like, what it's going to do for me.

And so I just want you to think about investing as it's not reckless.

Like, it is just leadership.

Because you can't shortcut confidence, you can't shortcut belief, you can't shortcut skill.

And a lot of times is important to grow as an individual, like, before you grow your brand and before you grow your business, like, growing your skill set is so important.

I think it was Warren Buffett that said, like, the greatest investment that you can make is in yourself.

Because they can take real estate or they can take, you know, gold or whatever it is.

Like, they can never take, you know, the skills that you've learned.

And so, yeah, it's been a very scary year.

I haven't talked about it openly because, well, you know, I announced it on Facebook a couple weeks ago and I got a lot of people that were super not supportive about it.

And I'm glad that I didn't mention it until now because if I had brought it up then I think people would have been like, ugh, like, I probably would have backed out.

And so I'm just so thankful that I kind of kept quiet, kept secret.

I mentioned that I was in programs, but I didn't put a number on it because it is a big number.

But then I got to thinking, you know, there's a lot of people I know that have a side by side and a boat and, you know, all the things, and we don't have any of that.

And not that there's anything wrong with it, but I kind of had to justify it in my brain of like, okay, this is an investment.

You are investing in yourself.

Even though it doesn't feel like things are paying off, it will eventually pay off.

And now that things are paying off and I'm seeing the fruit of my labors, like, oh, okay, cool.

This is.

This is a lot better.

So I just encourage you, if you are in that space, if you are feeling discouraged about, you know, maybe an investment you've already made, or you want to make an investment, but you're not sure, just know it's gonna get worse.

And then it'll probably get worse, but then it'll get way better.

So there is that.

Nothing's wrong.

It's just part of, you know, the journey of growth.

And I think for me, for next year, I am glad I went through this year.

So now, whatever program I choose next year, I can really buckle down and know that it's going to get worse before it gets better.

And I can go into it a little bit more prepared and I think, almost excited to go through that valley of despair and excited to experience the pain, because I know something really good is going to come on the other side of it.

But, yeah, I hope that this episode was valuable.

This is something that, you know, I'm currently planning in my life right now.

I'm, you know, already thinking about, well, Q3 is next week as of the time of this recording, and Q4 will sneak up on us before I even know it, and 2026 will sneak up on us before we even know it.

And I really want to be intentional with my time and my money.

And so I am, you know, already planning and thinking about all this.

And so, you know, if you're in that space where you're considering things and tossing things back and forth, I just, I hope that this episode was helpful in terms of maybe shifting a belief for you.

And if you are feeling called to invest in yourself to do it.

Okay.

If you have a friend that you think this episode would be valuable for, please send it to her.

If you loved it, leave me a review.

The reviews help so, so much.

And with that, I hope you have an amazing rest of your day and I will see you in the next episode.

Said.

That's it for this edition of the Elevated Edit.

If this episode hit, don't keep it to yourself, Screenshot it, share it, tag me on Instagram, and if you're ready to structure your business like the CEO that you are, you know where to find me.