How I overcame struggle, debt, and imposter syndrome to manifest a multiple 6-figure business
Today I want to be real with you.
I’m going to share the story of the earlier days in my career as a Business Mentor (the first 9 months, to be exact) and just how much I struggled.
In early January of 2018, I hired my first high-level coach. Her price was $6,000 USD (money that I didn't have plus a couple thousand more spent on Facebook ads during my time with her) for three months inside a group coaching program in which she helped me to build an automated sales funnel that would bring people into my 1:1 program.
I was putting a lot on the line, but I felt a strong pull towards her "proven" system and I dove in with both feet.
Three months in, I'd lived with my eyes glued to my laptop screen while working for hours every day at the local Starbucks. I'd set up $500/month worth of software subscriptions, and built out a program and marketing strategy that was "guaranteed" to return 10-fold on my investment.
The only problem was... that it didn't. After a few weeks of having the sales funnel in place, I was starting to panic. I pulled my expensive ads off of Facebook and immediately hired a new 1:1 coach, this time paying $5,500 for five months of coaching that focused on both mindset and organic marketing.
In my determination to make my business work and manifest the freedom I so deeply desired, I also signed up for a 6-week money mindset program and a 5-week course on launching programs. Together, they totalled another $4,500 USD in investments.
In the first 9 months of my business, I'd spent $18,000, and earned back $4900.
Between April and August, I launched some smaller offers. I had two people sign up for my first group program, and four people jump into a $200 one-week intensive with me. I also manifested my first high-level coaching client and was able to use the money to make a small dent in the debt I'd taken on throughout the year.
On paper, it's not the worst. Emotionally however, I was a total wreck. I was more in debt than ever (add to those investments my existing student loans & line of credit), and even though I was truly giving it my all, I felt like I was drowning. I was investing every spare dollar, minute, and ounce of energy I had, working 8-10 hours a day (on top of my other business I had at the time) in an effort to create success for myself, and averaging $500/month just wasn't cutting it. I was panicked, but remained determined.
The problem wasn't the money I'd spent or the debt I was carrying. The problem was that none of the courses I'd enrolled in or coaches I'd hired could give me the missing piece; the secret ingredient that without, left me dreaming of 5-figure months instead of actually creating them.
I was determined, I was empowered, I was showing TF up and doing all the right things. I was ALL the way in and still... it wasn't happening for me.
Meanwhile, my living situation took a sudden and massive turn for the worse and I was desperate to find the illusive key to unlocking the success I'd been working so hard for.
And so, I did something that would soon thereafter result in me gaining the understanding that later became the framework for what I teach: I booked a one-way ticket to Rome dated 6-months out. I started visualizing myself in Italy, making amazing money while staying in fabulous places and growing my business and income remotely.
I demanded that the Universe show me the way. I was done playing around or accepting less than what I wanted. It had to start working NOW.
And in my determination, I got the very answer I'd been asking for. Guidance came flooding in and 6 weeks later, I'd Quantum-leapt into a $15K month with a single shift that I couldn't believe no one else was teaching.
The answer I'd been seeking and the missing piece that left me floundering for months? I was launching the wrong offers. I was building out launch plans and implementing massive marketing strategies to try and sell courses and programs that simply put, I didn't *really* believe people wanted to buy from me.
Up until that point, no one had talked to me about the REAL reason why launches either fly or flop. I'd bought into the advice from all the online "experts" who insisted that success came through what you were doing. Now, I know differently.
Success has very little to do with the actions you're taking, and everything to do with the person you're BEING as you take those actions (AKA marketing your offers, posting on social, writing sales pages etc. etc.).
The results you get in the launch of your online programs will be a direct reflection of the level of belief you have in your offer, and in your ability to help people create the change they desire through purchasing it.
My results weren't flowing because I was offering courses and programs that I deep down, I didn't have a strong foundation of belief behind. I felt like there were others who could do it better than me and were further along/more experienced than I was. I feared judgement from those in my audience, and I compared myself constantly to people who were already where I desired to be in my business.
Once I realized this, everything changed. I started creating offers that were unlike anything anyone else was offering, because they were ME. They were a true reflection of my personal experience and who I was as an entrepreneur.
They weren't the offers that I thought or hoped people would buy, they were the offers that helped people in a way I KNEW they needed my help with.
Everything got easier after that. A single program launch was enough to make huge dents in my debt. I felt like I knew what I was doing. I believed that the courses and programs I put out into the world would be highly desirable to those they were made for, and my reality shifted in drastic ways as a result. I retired my first business, went full-time online, and got on a plane to Italy. Four months of luxury travel later, I moved back home and into my dream Toronto apartment with a million-dollar view and a level of contentment I'd dreamed of, but never truly known was available to me.
And it was all because I got in touch with the offers that were authentically aligned to me. Because I focused on what I wanted to share with others, not what I thought others wanted from me. Because I got enough energy behind everything I put out, which then resonated with my audience.
As you walk your journey of online content creator or coach, know this: Whatever you are excited about sharing is the path to follow. Whatever gets you lit up is your compass. And if manifesting a life filled with fun, freedom and financial overflow is the reality that deep down you KNOW you came here to create for yourself, then you're not reading this by accident. NOW is your time. Stop talking yourself out of your Divinely-downloaded desires and create the wealth that'll change things for you and your loved ones for generations to come.
To your inevitable success,
XX
-The Aligned Entrepreneur