This story has been such a long-time coming. I feel like this is the first time I’m actually diving this deep into the step-by-step journey I went through when I first quit my job as a teacher to take my online coaching further. Now that we’re coming up to a year to the date of officially launching my coaching business, I’ve been reflecting and really trying to piece together what were those catalyst-like moments that really impacted my growth.
Now, of course as a disclaimer, I have grown very quickly and whilst I don’t want to sound like I’m suggesting that overnight results are a thing, I do want to open your eyes to seeing what’s possible for you.
Let’s begin…
So, here’s the story of how I went from key worker teacher to earning multiple 5 figure months in under a year. Essentially replacing my teacher salary with one month of sales.
I officially handed in my notice at my job as a French and Spanish teacher at a local secondary school in England. Now, I had to hand my notice at least 3 months before I could leave, and at this point, I had only ever signed 1 coaching client. I had made a sum total of £2,000. But that was enough for me to know it was for me. I was hooked. I sat down with my partner in our hybrid office-guest room and I quite literally asked him if I could quit. See, we worked at the same school so me leaving would impact him.
Fast forward to today, he has also handed in his notice to pursue his dream as an international teacher and he will be moving abroad this summer. So things are happening for us both in our careers and we are both partners in love and life so we have bounds of support for one another. And me? Today, I’m now hitting £20K+ in sales every month, which is the equivalent of what I used to make as a teacher, my cash income is building month upon month and, whilst I am not finished or anywhere near done, I am so incredibly grateful that I stumbled upon the amazing opportunity of digital entrepreneurship. So, what gives? What made me so special? And how can you do it too?
There is absolutely nothing special about me. If you ever meet me for a coffee or get on a call with me, you’ll quickly learn that. And the same goes for all of the mentors and entrepreneurs you look up to. I believe that so madly deeply.
Vision
The first thing that really impacted my growth is that I’ve almost always had a delusional level of confidence in the kind of life I was going to have. I knew in immense detail what my life would look like, but I didn’t always know the how. How I was going to create that life. But what was important was that I knew without a shadow of a doubt that I would make it happen. I had a vision, I held on to it and I was open to every possibility, opportunity and lesson that would help me get there.
In fact, I often asked myself, “Is this a part of my journey?” when making decisions. I would do it from the perspective of future me as if I was looking back on my journey. I would then lean into that, trust future-me’s gut and I would make decisions based on what she knew. By the way, I do this way more now as an entrepreneur than I ever did in the past because there are of course way more decisions to be made in this way of life. But doing this, setting off on my own path, has taught me how to build a stronger relationship with myself. To trust myself. To have confidence in myself. So, that when I have an amazing idea or I feel those moments of doubts creep up, I feel a voice within me remind me that I can absolutely do it. I have the choice.
Plan
The second thing that stood out to me was being hyper organised and systematic about the way you plan – from your daily schedule to your long-term goals. We all have a huge repertoire of transferable skills from our past lives before we became online entrepreneurs, and one of mine was time and project management. I’ve almost always been in a position of manager or leader. From being a Duty Manager in the Events & Hospitality Industry in my final year of univeristy, to Restaurant Manager, to joining a Leadership Development grad program, to Classroom Teacher. And I had learned how to be hyper-organised. Also, shout out to my parents for being complete last-minute Linda’s who are likely 50% of why I am a very high-maintenance, organised person.
So, cut to when I went full-time with my online business, I absolutely hated that it sometimes felt like I was just spending my days doing the same thing like a hamster stuck on a wheel. I would get up, post to social media, engage on social media, try to plan some more content, and it felt like I was never going beyond the realms of just being a glorified content creator with nothing to show for it.
When I say I got very quickly frustrated, I mean it was only 1 week experiencing the hamster wheel life before I said no more, there has to be a better way. I thought back to being a teacher and how I was able to be super organised back then. I transferred the idea of Start with the End. This is the golden rule in teacher planning – from lessons to our schedule. I would start with what the end goal was. If it was a hefty goal, such as making £10K months and booking out my private mentorship, I then broke it down into milestones and individual checkpoints I would look out for to measure my success. Because when you set goals, you have to ask yourself, how will I measure success, whatever that means for you?
The big question people ask me about this strategy though is how do you map out what you’re going to do if you don’t know how to do it in the first place? I start with what I know, I fill some gaps with what my intuition is telling me, and then the rest essentially highlights what I don’t know. Because you don’t know what you don’t know until you lay it all out before you and see the cracks. So, I set out £10K months as being my big goal. I hit that within 6 months.
Invest
The third thing that fast tracked my success without a doubt then ties in to my last point – I filled in the gaps. I hired a business mentor, I invested more than I was making, I committed to developing my own knowledge, skills and mindset alongside serving others. I didn’t say I need to learn first, do second. I did them both together. The biggest misconception is that you have to start when you’re ready.
Ask any parent out there if they ever truly felt ready to be a parent? I bet you 99.99% weren’t ready, but they learned a lot on the go and it was clearly the best decision of their lives because whilst maybe a tad-sleep deprived, every parent around me who I watched become parents are now the happiest they’ve ever been. So, the perfect analogy why you can’t spend your life waiting until you feel ready.
I hired my first business mentor right out the gate. I had to fork out the cost from our savings and add it to my list of debt but I had not a single ounce of doubt about the decision. Whilst it was absolutely crazy to me and my family that I was investing almost the same as my mortgage per month on a business that no one truly understood, I knew that this was what I needed. I truly didn’t care or believe that there was any other option. I removed the safety net and went all in.
And, as you can expect, teachers make the best students. I implemented, I did the work, I put my trust in my vision. I knew that even if some things didn’t work out, I needed to wrack up as much experience as I could if I wanted to make this work and quick. Within 4 months, I launched my first online course and hit £5K. The next month I launched more mentorship intensives and experiences and hit £10K. Then, a further 5 months later, this April 2022 I hit £23K in sales – my highest yet.
I recently invested in a $15,000 Mastermind with a 7-figure Business Mentor. She was on my vision board for 2022 as one to work with, she’s scaled to $100K cash months and her methodology has always spoken to me on that deeper level. My future self stepped in and told me to stop waiting and invest. I invested in her at the very beginning of April. The same day I invested, I hit £10K in sales. It truly was an exchange of energy. We hadn’t even started working together but the pure energy of putting down the deposit and committing to twice my mortgage of monthly investments switched something in me. I honestly put it down to tapping into her energy but also the energy that surrounds high ticket investments in people who inspire you.
It’s like when you buy a meal – this might be a terrible analogy but bear with me, my brain is making sense of it. You buy a meal. You can either see it as you losing that money. Or you can see it as you gaining a delicious meal that is going to fill you, provide you with energy and nutrition. When I invested in the highest investment I had ever invested in, I wasn’t losing $15,000. I was gaining my next-level potential. And the energy returned the same day.
So, what next?
So, if you’re listening to this, you’re still working your 9-5 or you’ve just started your online business, here’s what I want you to really takeaway from this.
- Hold on to your big picture vision and goals. Practice the art of stepping into your future self and aligning your decisions with that version of you. This will keep you driven, motivated and give you a sense of purpose, even on those days where you feel like you’ve been doing the same tasks on repeat.
- Become a planning and organisation maestro. If you often say things like, “Oh I’m just a messy person” or “I’m not an organised person – it’s just not me”, then of course you’ll struggle to be organised. But here’s the thing – no one is born organised. It’s not a genetic trait. A DNA test isn’t going to come back and say, “Oh sorry, you’re just not genetically predisposed to being organised.” It’s something you learn, practice and do. And often it’s about creating systems and a process for as many different areas of your business so that you remove the headache of prepping for the task. You just dive straight in.
- Invest in a mentor. Most, if not all, of the most successful entrepreneurs hired a mentor. There is no singular definition of success, of course. Success means something different to everyone. So think back to step one, your big picture vision. Then, find a mentor who is embodying the life you want, the person you want to be, who speaks to your aspirational identity. Commit yourself to them. Be a humdle student. It is the best thing you will ever do. I think investing at any price is amazing, whether it’s a few hundred or thousands of dollars, but either way, choosing to invest in yourself and the version of who you want to be is the best gift you can ever do for yourself. I have invested in business mentors, mindset coaches, sales strategists, marketing experts and I have easily invested near £25,000 in my business in just 10 months and I do not regret a single investment. Even the investments that weren’t exactly what I was expecting, I still learned a lot.
Now it’s over to you. I invite you to make one decision today that will help you get one step closer to your vision. Just one decision – no matter how big or small.
If you’ve been feeling a pull to work with me, then I’d love to introduce the Wildly In-Demand Minimind. This is a high-touch hybrid 4-month mentorship program for the entrepreneur who is stuck in that £1-3K range, they’re craving a partnership with high-level mentor, and want to grow to consistent £5-8K months.
The Minimind is combination of private 1:1 mentorship and Mastermind-style group coaching with biweekly trainings, biweekly mastermind-style coaching calls, monthly private 1:1 calls with me, monthly guest expert trainings and access to a private portal with resources, tools and trainings.
It truly is that next-level experience that will give you the structure to learn new strategies, that will hold space for you to develop your million-dollar ideas, and that will challenge you to grow your business to new heights. If this feels like it has your name all over it, then I welcome you to head to apply today to find out more.
