All right. We're back. And I'm so excited. I'm on repeat when I start every episode because, oh, it's just so good. It's just so good. And what we're going to dive in today. This is like, Hot topic. I get asked about this all the time from clients of mine, prospective clients of mine, even my fiance, because those of you that don't know he is in the online space as well. And I'm so grateful for that because he understands it. He understands me, he understands investing. However, it's a very normal conversation that we have in our heads. Is investing is what am I, what am I investing in? What is he investing in? What does that look like? What do we want to be investing in what's right. For each of us, it is, it is a topic. And I just want to have an open conversation with you about investing. What it looks like how to know which investments are the right investments for you, because that's going to look different for everybody. And I do think that that's really important for us to acknowledge that investing is not going to look the same for any one person, for anyone business, either. The seasons of our businesses. We go through changes. We change as humans and something maybe you invested in a year ago, two years ago, five years ago was maybe like the best thing then. And as you grow and evolve, what you desire to invest in what you want for your business, what you see next for your business, it's going to change. It's going to change because you're going to change. Right now let's dive in into the importance of the support on this journey. Right? First and foremost, the support that's ultimately what we invest in when we are investing in coaches, mentors, all of the above, um, and really looking out for what should you be investing in and knowing what's right for you. So, first thing I want to say is getting support. I do want to chat about this. I want to chat about having support in your business. For me personally, I don't want to speak for you, but for me personally, support is everything. Like, I don't believe I'm meant to do this thing on my own and full transparency. I've been doing this thing for four and a half years. I've been an entrepreneur. I've never not had a coach and or mentor of some sort. I'm not saying you have to have somebody that you're investing in. All of the time. I don't believe that I have dear friends. I have clients. I know so many people that take breaks from mentorship and coaching, and there's nothing wrong with that. For me, I'm a firm believer. Like I believe it's through my core that I have been so successful and I've moved so quickly because I've allowed myself to be continually supported, continually kicked out of my comfort zone and continually just allowed myself to have someone on my side. That's like, Michelle, get out of your own way, go do the damn thing. And like giving me just a different perspective, like support different perspective. To me, it's really everything like that is always like my top investment in my business is investing in support because I know for me, it's literally priceless. Like my next level is usually on the other side of my next investor. I'm going to talk about that here in a moment. That's definitely a point today. I don't believe that like when you invest, you automatically make money back. That's not what I'm saying, but I do believe for me when I'm massively supported, I grow. And when I'm, when I'm growing, I make more money because, because I'm supportive, like, I just can't say that enough. Now. Second thing I do want to piggyback off of that because wall I've never been without support. I cherish my investments. I'm always investing. I recently made a new investment in my business. And I'll talk to you about that in a moment. I do want to normalize investing is scary. It is scary. It is scary. Okay. I get it. Like, even for me now it's scary. Recently full transparency. I recently made my largest investment to this date in a new mentor. And like, I'm literally paying double monthly than I was paying. Like insane, insane you should have seen. When I made this decision, like the conversation I was having with Khan and he trusts me so much at this point because he knows I grow whenever I invest. And I'm gonna talk about how I make my investments, how I make smart investments. Trust me, I've made some nuts, so smart ones that learned a lot along the way, but I'm literally paying double monthly than what I was paying in a mentor and like, It's a little scary. It's a little scary. And at first I was like, oh my gosh, Michelle, are you like really doing this? Like, are you sure about this? Of course all those thoughts came up. But ultimately when I invest, I follow my gut, I follow my intuition. And I follow that nudge of like, you know that like you desire this, you desire this. And if I don't go for it, I'm going to regret it. And I don't like to live my life in regret. And that like for you either, I don't ever want you to regret not doing something. So think about that too. Thinking of your next investment. Like I'm not talking about FOMO tactics. I'm not saying like fear of missing out, but like, if you desire something enough that you're thinking about it all the time and you're like, I wish I was doing this and I so want this and I want to get to my next level quicker, follow that, nudge, follow that gut, follow that intuition and stop holding yourself back. But I will admit this last investment and I'm currently like in it, I'm in it for six months. I'm so grateful. It's like so worth all of it. But it was scary. Like it was holy bejeezus scary, but I knew, even though it scared me, my fear, wasn't greater than my desires. And that's the thing. Your fear cannot be greater than your desires in anything in business, in anything in business, not just investing, but my fears don't determine my decision. And that's something I want you to think about that is something I always remind myself of. Am I making a fear-based decision or is this the decision I actually want? That's something I want you to ask yourself, is it a fear based decision or is this something that I actually want? This was something I actually wanted, even though fear kicked in, it was something I desired and here's how I knew it was the right investment for me. The woman coach that I have right now that I invested in is running a business. That the way in which she runs her business, I really desire to run my business that way. I'm very much in a season of life and of business where business is feeling easier and I desire it to feel easier. I'm showing up less my face isn't on stories all day everyday. If you've been following me for a long time. And if you were to really tune in, you'd notice I'm not as active on social media, but my business is growing and making more. I'm being very intentional about this. This is what I desire and therefore I'm moving in that direction in my business. And I also wanted somebody that's doing that in their business, but ultimately making more money than I am. That's really what I desired. I desired also somebody that had mastered taking maternity leave. I'm going to be in a season of my life where we're planning for kids next year. I really forward think about my life and my business, and I want it to always makes sense. And so think about that for you as well as like, what does my future look like? What do I want it to look like? What do I want my business to look like? And look at what you're investing in. And are you investing in things that make sense for the future of what you desire? I'll give you guys an another example. You know, my business guys, you guys know this, I am all about recurring revenue. I'm all about consistent income. I am all about making money when you're sleeping. Like I woke up this morning and woke up to money in my account from recurring revenue. Like yesterday was a holiday. I'm recording this on July 5th. So by the time you hear this, it won't be July 5th, but yesterday the 4th of July, I wasn't promoting or anything. I was with family. I woke up this morning to monies thousand dollars this morning by 5:00 AM. I didn't even do anything. Like I am here for that. I'm here for that. You guys know that. And I have a lot of women that invest in me because that's what they desire. They desire. To make recurring revenue to have a business that makes them feel safe to have money, to put money in their savings accounts. That's why women invest in me, because they desire that they've seen that I've done it and they desire it. Right. And so the way in which I invest, I see what women have done the way in which they are running their business and I'm like, Ooh, like that's what I desire. I'm gonna get in her world. I'm not going to do it exactly like her, but if she's done it, she can show me how. Do you see that? Now, when we inve st, I do want to clear up some stigmas because I see this happen all the time and it kind of leads to disappointment. Maybe not kind of, it does, it does lead to disappointment. So I want to talk about what should the true expectation of an investment be? I hear this all the time. I've literally seen captions about this on Instagram. And I like, I'm like, oh, it was kind of like cringe-worthy stuff. I always see, like when I invest, I make money. Or I see when I pay this coach, I will make money. Like, I've, I've heard this, I've heard people say this and maybe you've thought this too. And the reason I bring this up is because I once thought this too. I thought if I just invested, I'd make more money. I thought if I just spend more money, I'd make more money. If I just invest, I'll make my money back and then some. That's not always the case. And like that gets to the heart, heart podcast is why we're having this conversation, because this is like real deal stuff. This is not the expectation that we want to set. Do I believe that every time I invest, I make money? Well yeah, because my business is always going to make money, but that's up to me. It's not up to me investing in someone that's going to make me more money and the same holds true for you. Right. But when we invest from a place of, when I invest this, then I'll make money. We invest from like a save me kind of place of like, I need this coach to save me in my business in order to make money. And you don't need anybody, but yourself. While I love support, I will never not have support i, I will make money, and my business will grow without it. Because it's up to me just like, it's up to me, it's up to you. You are beyond capable of right here and right now, but we don't want to invest from a save me, I need you type of energy. What does that lead to? That ultimately leads to us coach hopping. I see this happen all of the time. I can't tell you. I'm gonna tell you guys a little secret. Okay. This industry, while we think it's like really saturated and there's so many people doing what we're doing, it's really not. If you were to take an objective view, it is a very small world. It's very small. It's growing and that's the most beautiful thing where people are working for themselves, creating businesses. It's the most magnificent thing. But I will tell you this. It's small enough that when people invest from the save me, I need you type of complex. And they're in the DMS of multiple different coaches, most coaches know. Like most coaches know because we talk, I have so many friends in this industry, like, I know I'm going to shoot you straight right now. I have women that come in my DM. So I'm like, I want to work with you. I want to be in this program. I want to do this. Tell me the investment. And then they never answer me. And that's fine. I love you. But I'm going to love you from a distance. That is so fine that you may never work with me. I'm not insulted by that. I respect all of your decisions, but I also do know that they're in the DMS of multiple other coaches, just in, from this save me, I need you type of energy complex and that I just need you to know when we invest in that place, it's not going to work. You're not going to get the result that you desire because it's from this desperate energy. And so that whole coach client relationship, you will feel disappointed by anything that that coach tells you to do most likely because you're putting them up on a pedestal and you're trying to have them save you and it's not going to work. And so if you felt frustrated by your investments before, or you felt. I'm not going to sit here and say that everything we invest in is always the best thing. I've definitely made investments where someone was a very good marketer and they weren't the best coach I've been there. I've been there. That's not what I'm talking about. I am talking about when you do have a coach and she's shown up and she's given you all the strategies and all the things, and you still feel like nothing's working, it's up to you. It is up to you, but that's where I'm saying, we have to be aware of the energy in which we are investing in. We want to invest from a place of want and desire, not from need and not from save me, want and desire. And we want it to feel exciting, even though it's going to feel a little scary. I don't believe investing always has to feel scary, but like if you're spending an amount of money you've never really spent before or investing an amount that you've never invested before doing something completely new, it's going to feel uncertain. Because it's new, but it also gets to feel so fun and exciting and like, holy shit, balls. This is going to change my life. That's how we want it to feel. We don't want it to feel like, save me. I need you. You're taking my money. Yeah. Because here's the thing. Any money you decide to invest in anyone that's your choice. No one here is forcing you to pay them, especially not in my world. Like, that's not how we do things over here. And I'm sure that's not how it's like in your. But you're no, one's forcing you to pay them. It's up to you. However, you want to spend your money. You have full control over that, but you want to invest from an it place of want and desire and a feel good. Like this might scare me and it's like, oh my goodness. I've never spent this amount of money, but I'm so flipping excited and I cannot wait to be in this person's world. And you're like celebrating and you're dancing up and down and you're like, oh my gosh, like the next level is coming. That's how we want it. Literally this scary investment that I recently made in my own business. And that's how I felt. I was like, oh my God, like scary. But also like, holy shit, what's coming is like going to be groundbreaking. It's going to be groundbreaking. That's how we want to feel. We don't want to put too much pressure on our mentors, on our coaches and, or too much pressure on ourselves. That's the pressure that we feel comes from when we invest from the save me and need me type of complex. Now. What to invest in what not to invest in. What's smart. What's not smart. What to invest in at what stage I'm going to be. I'm going to shoot you straight. Like there's no roadmap, there's no rule book for what you should be investing in at every level of your business. It's going to look different for everybody. Even if I were to look at like me and my business, best friends, we've all invested in different things and at different timelines, like we're all always in that. Uh, in different things and it's just how it goes because we're different people and you're different. We're all different. And what we desire as far as support goes, is going to be different. So it's really asking yourself again, what do you design? What, what level of support do you desire? Who's do you want to be on like, whose energy are you attracted to who's marketing? Like when you watch them online, when you see the way in which they're selling, when they talk about the results that they have and their clients have. Who is drawing you in, like, who are you watching and seeing and inspired by where you're like, holy crap. If I could run my business like that, I want that like, stay in touch with those nudges and those thoughts that you have, because that's your desire and really asking yourself who has done what you desire to do. I'm going to shoot you straight. I am. I'm very honest in this podcast. I'm honest all the time, but you guys know it's a hard target. Full transparency. I've never gonna invest in someone that has not done what I desire to do. Like I'm just not going to do it. Literally not going to do it. I need to know that you've done what I desire to do. I th that's just how I am. It's how I invest. Like I want to go farther. I want to go higher. I want to go greater. I need to know. I need to know that you're already doing, you've mastered what I desire to do. Then I'm going to pay you my money and the same goes for you. Who are you drawn to? Like, who do you like, like. Here's the thing, the people that you invest in, you have to like them because I believe for me, my clients and I, no matter what level they invest in me, it is a partnership. Like I care so deeply for the women that invest in me. Like I care for them so much. I love them. Like I am so appreciative for every single woman that comes into my. But I also want them to love me too. Like, I don't want people that to invest in me if they hate me. Like, no, it's a lot of responsibility. Right? So the same thing for you, like who are you drawn to? Who are you magnetised by? Who do you love watching, listening to like their energy. You're like, I just love them. You feel like you could be their best friend. So I want my clients to feel like that. That's literally what I want you to ask yourself. First is. Who has done what you desire to do. Who's running a business that you desire to learn how to run your business that way. Who are you drawn to? What do you love? Who not what, excuse me. Words are hard as always, but we're not editing. Who do you love watching and learning from and are like, yes. The way they run a business, the way they sell, the way they show up is what I desire. Some of you. Maybe are new to my world or have been watching me for a long time. Tell me if you will literally hire me because I don't show up incessantly. I don't post all of the time. Even when I'm launching, full transparency we just closed out my fierce mastermind launch. Ooh, we sold out that baby because it's like the best thing ever. You guys know that my masterminds always sell out. Literally. I think my face was on story. Two, maybe three, literally, maybe three. But I want to say it was two. I don't remember exactly two or three times throughout that whole launch. My face. I did not show up everyday and talk about it. I like did a lot of like sitting on my couch with my blanket on how do I want to talk about this today? What feels good? Very laid back, selling ease energy. And it sold out because that's how it goes in my world. Like I am just in a season of life and of business where I want it all to feel easier. I'm doing things my way, really leaning in really like just doing what feels good to me, making business more fun, living my life, leaving my house more, hanging out with family more and making more money. And I'm sharing that with you because I'm really mastering that and really tapping into that. Many of you will hire me because that's what you decide. You desire to build recurring revenue, stack income, you desire that you desire consistency in business. You desire not waking up the first of every single month and wondering where the next money money's coming from you. Desire, savings, accounts, many people, many of you will hire me because I'm running a business the way that you desire to. And you're drawn to that. And you like the way I sell or you like the way I show up. That's amazing. That's amazing. That's why I share it because I want you to know it's possible for you too It's possible. But I'm sharing that with you as an example, because that's what you're drawn to. Right. And maybe it's not me, maybe it's somebody else, but keep that in mind of like, what am I drawn to? What do I desire? And like, who am I like really vibing with and the way in which they run their business. When I watch them, I'm like, Ooh, damn, I want to be able to do that. Like invest from that place. And one thing I want to say do not. Invest from a popularity contest standpoint. It doesn't matter how many followers people have. It really doesn't. It does not matter how many followers people have also don't invest from like just how much money somebody is making, because that doesn't mean that they're a good. I kid you not like, I also want to know what people's clients are saying about them. I don't mean I don't need to talk to their clients, but like, I want to like see their client testimonials. Like when they show them on stories. Like I watched that stuff. I am in tune with that. I want to know people's client experience. If my clients get the best experience, I know that my client experience is almost if not untouchable, like I show up, I know that. So somebody were to deem any one of my clients. They'd have some, they say great. I know that, but here's the thing just because I'm making X amount of money doesn't mean I'm the right coach for you. And the same thing goes for other people just because they're making 20 K months until you desire 20 K a month. Doesn't mean that they're necessarily the right coach for you. And so that's really where it's also. Looking at them as a whole and making sure that it all feels good and that you're not just investing in somebody just because of the amount of money they're making. That's, that's what I wanted to make clear. I feel like I was a little confusing on that, but that's the point I wanted to make is that we're not just investing in people based on the amount of money that they're making. Why else are you investing in them? And then again, not investing in people that are just for popularity standpoint, like why are you investing in that person as a whole, or that program as a whole? What's the desire behind that? And last thing I wanted to add to that is, and I've been here is like, don't just invest in things based on like what your friends are investing in. Sometimes we get really caught up in like what everyone else is doing. And it's just being really mindful of what's the right decision for you. It might be the right decision to invest in all the things that all your friends are. And that's great. But if it's not, it's also okay to admit that and acknowledge that for yourself as well. Um, I'm going to give you an example of this. I was in a mastermind probably two years ago now, which is so crazy to say you 2009. Two years ago now. And when that mastermind ended, I had formed such deep relationships with the women in that mastermind there still to this day. So much, some of them are we're to hard today. I'm like some of them, some of them are my best friends. When we left that mastermind, I think three or four out of the girls had all then went and joined the same group. And like, I remember feeling like, Ooh, should I go join that? But for me the who they were investing in, it just wasn't the right fit for me. It didn't feel good. It wasn't what I was looking for my business. It wasn't the next level for me. And I went in a different direction and invest in somebody else. And that was the best decision for me. And so that's also, I just wanted to bring that to your awareness. It's really easy to get caught up in like what everyone else is doing or whatever you're on. Else's investing in. And sometimes that's the right decision for you, but sometimes it's not, and it's also okay to and know what's right for you want to give you one more example? One of my one-on-one clients currently, she first had joined my program, find your fierce, and then she joined one-on-one. She knew, like literally halfway through find your fear. She messaged me privately on Instagram and it was like, okay, how do I like work with you? Higher level? I want like Ali, I want all the goods. She knew she desired a higher level and she was ready to move quickly. So she followed her gut. And literally like in five months of us, she was in find your fierce. And then she upgraded to one-to-one in five months of working together, she's already doubled what she made this time. Last year, double bolt doubled. And she's made more in the first two quarters of 2020. Than she did in her whole year salary of when she worked her nine to five, like, it's just insane what happened. And I'm sharing that with you because she followed her gut. She followed her intuition. She followed her desires. She knew she vibed with me. She knew she wanted to be like in my world, she wanted like one-to-one support. She wanted all the access, all the things, all the support. And she wanted to move quick. And look what happened when she followed that gut, that instinct that desire. She did move quickly. She didn't hold herself back and amazing things happen. Like we can move. So, so, so, so, so fast, but we do want to follow that gut, that intuition, that desire. When you follow your desires, you move quicker, you move quicker and you follow your intuition and your gut and what, you know, you want you move quicker. And when it comes to investing like logically. A lot of things we invest in, like logically don't make sense. So like when your brain and that fear comes up most of the time, it's not going to make sense, but it's up to you and it's trusting yourself when you invest. That's huge. You okay. One ish, two ish things I want to just kind of cover when it comes to investing it's price shopping. I know I talked about this previously, one of my other episodes, um, and I knew I mentioned it again. One last thing. I just want to say on price shopping and then I'm probably not ever going to talk about it. Here's the thing I'm not saying to not invest within your means. Okay. I'm never going to be the person that tells someone to put an investment on a credit card. I'm never going to be the person that says, go take out a bank loan. I know people say crazy shit to get people to invest. Like that's not me. That's not how we do things over here. I'll ask that's what somebody desires. Unless they like decide to put it on their credit card. Like that's them, that's their choice. Most of the time, I don't even know that they're putting on a credit card. They just like put their card on file. Like, I don't know these things. I don't need to know. Like how people want to pay for things. It's like their choice. It's not up to me to tell them how to pay for things. Same goes for you. Right. You get to choose how you want to invest in things, but I'm never going to be the person that like tell somebody to invest out of their means. Like I'm not going to do that. It doesn't feel good. However, searching for the cheapest price and not investing in what you desire will most likely lead to disappointment. And I see this happen all the time because we price shop and we're like, well, let me just find like the least cost thing. Let me just find something that's. I see this happen a lot with clients that aren't in the us, um, like the conversion rate. And I know that that is like, oh, like I wish that there wasn't a conversion rate. I really, really do. I know that that's tough with American coaches, but I do see it happen all the time where we're looking for the cheapest price or not investing in what we desire. And it leads to disappointment and it's continued disappointment because we're not investing in what we actually want. And so when we settle, we get. Settled we're settling. Like there's no really easier way to say that then like you're settling for something that you ultimately don't want. That's not ultimately your first choice. It's going to lead to disappointment most likely. And so here's what I want to say with this. If there's someone that you truly desire to work with and maybe whatever it is, you want to be a part of whether it's their mastermind or one-to-one coaching. Maybe you want something higher level and it's just not in your budget. It's just not in your meat. Figure out how you can get into the world, even if it's starting small, like that's something I would do if it were me. Like if there were somebody I so desire to work with and it just wasn't feasible, it wasn't like the amount of money I wanted to invest. I didn't have that amount of money, whatever it might be. Start small, maybe in their courses or in their micro offers or an intensive, like there's so many ways that you can get into someone's world without it having to quote unquote, break your bank, or like put you into debt or you have to put on a credit card, whatever. Like, however you want to invest. You're able to invest. I put many investments in credit cards. I pay them off, but like, however you want to invest, you want to invest start there because when you invest in what you truly desire. And you trust it. And you're in the world and energy as someone you actually desire to be in. That's when the magic happens. I promise you that's when the magic happens, but stop settling, like stop settling for what you don't actually want in your business, or take the time off from investing and save some money and then go invest, invest in the person that you desire to. Because here's the thing. If you just keep investing to keep invest to keep it that. And you're not actually investing in what you want to invest in. Like you're just hurting yourself. And so it's really looking at what do you desire who's world you desire to be in and start there, start there. Last thing I'm going to say today. I got asked this the other day and I thought it was a really good question. A client of mine prior to hiring me, we were talking about my mastermind. She wanted to join and she said, can I just get your perspective? Yeah. Investing in multiple things and or people? And I felt that this was a really good question, because I do think that there's a stigma out there of like only hire one coach and like get their perspective. But like, I mean, I can't tell you, like recently I was in a mastermind and I had a one coach at the same time. Right now, I just have a one to one coach. I'm not in anything else I might be in the future. I don't know. We'll see, see where that desire takes me, but I think it's completely okay. To get more support if that's what you desire. Honestly, if you desire to be in someone's world and you desire the way that they show up, you're like, I love what she's doing. I feel like she could help me. I like just want to be in her mastermind, even though I have a one-on-one coach. Like that's your choice. No one can tell you any different and I'm going to, I'm going to say something. I probably shouldn't say, but I'm gonna say it. If a business coach. Especially a business coach ever says to you that you can't work with somebody else while you're working with them. Run, literally run. I would never tell my clients that even my clients like they'll go hire people for like things I don't teach on like manifestation and then like things that are out of my zone of genius. I have a client that was working on ads. I don't do ads. I'm all organic. Like, let your clients breathe. Like our desires change our desire shift. And we are not people that like, no, I've everything about everything. I'll be the first to admit that. And so it is 1000% okay. To get the support that you desire, even if you're working with multiple people at a time. One thing I will just add to that is just make sure it's the right fit for you always again, it goes back to the desire, the instincts, that gut feeling, the knowing of whose world do you want to be in, who you trust and follow that. Last thing you thought you were going to get away with me not singing today, but I can't help it. I think when I sing, like that means I'm really happy. Maybe it, maybe it is. I don't know. Anyway, give away is still going on. Give away is about to end, but the way on our next episode, that's the last time you're gonna hear me talk about this giveaway. So your last time to get to Starbucks. So, if you haven't already, first of all, please subscribe to this podcast. I love all my subscribers. I would love if you did, if you're enjoying it here would love to see you back here and please leave a five star review if you're enjoying the podcast, I cannot thank you enough for already leaving. Five star review. If you have, it means the world to me, I read every single one. I love you so much. And when you do leave a five star review, be sure to screenshot it, DM it to me on Instagram or Facebook at Michelle Hartman. And your next Starbucks coffee is on me. I love you so much happy investing and we'll see in the next episode.